
Book «7 



THE 



PRINCIPLES ofELOQUENCE. 




CONTAINING 

HINTS 

TO 

PUBLIC SPEAKERS 

Br t/kNOX, 
ALSO, 



fERNINGHAM's ESSAY ON THE ELOQUENCE 
OF THE PULPIT IN ENGLAND. 



/ PAINTED AT BOSTON, 
"or B. & J. HOMANS, No. 50,Marlboro u ok Sf reei , 

1805. 
David Carlisle, Printer, Cambridgefi 



.\\ 



CONTENTS. 



OF SPEAKING. 

Page 

HOW to make yourfelf heard without any difficulty - IS 

How to ftrengthen the voice - - ib. 

Faultering. How to get rid of it - - 14 

Of bellowing, or fpeaking too loud— To be avoided - ib. 
Mumbling, or fpeaking too much to yourfelf — To be 

corrected - - - - r 15 

The voice to be made foft and agreeable to the ear - ib. 

Never fpit, or hem, while fpeaking - - - IS 

Of varying the voice „..-.- ib a 

Haw to c«»«. ;o«Hf i j;« > f <, monotonous tone - - 17 

Rules for varying the voice^ - - - fa 

Not to be too violent with your voice - • lg 

Too great a volubility to be avoided - fa 

Speaking too flow - - - - - 19 

To vary the voice according to the fubjedfc $ t 

How to vary the voice according to the paffians - 21 

Efteem or admiration. How to exprefs them - - 2-i 

Contempt. How to exprefs it by the voice - - 25 

A grievance complained of. How to be exprefled - 26 

Exordium, What kind of tone to ufe in it - - 27 

Narration.. What tone necefTary - - - 29 

Confirmation and confutation. What tone neceflary - fa 

.Peroration. What tone to be ufed - fa 

FIGURES of RHETORIC. 

What tone to be ufed in fpeaking fome.of them - 30 

Exclamation. The proper tone to be ufed - - fa 

Swearing. The fame tone proper - .. 31 
Profopopceia. To change your voice according toTthe 

perfon introduced - fa 

Apoftrophe. The tone nece#*ary - - 32 

Epimone. In what tone to utter it - - 33 

-ParrheGa. What tone neceflfjry - 34 

'Clurux. How to manage the voice in it - - 35 

Antnh'>fi3. How to fpeak it - - fa 

-Breath, How to manage it in fpeaking - -36 

: breath necefTary in a fpeaker, How to tseguire It 3,7 



•CONTENTS. 



Claufes of a period. How to manage them 

Short periods. Paufes after them different from thofe 

after long ones - 

Subfequent period lower than the clofe of the preceding 

one - - 

Period that requires great force of voice. How to 

manage the fentences immediately preceding 
Pronunciation - - 

To keep your voice up to the end of a fentence 

ACTION. 

Hints f efpeetiiig action to thofe who wifli to fpeak 

gracefully in' public 
How to ufe the hands in action - . 

Ufe no action at the beginning of your fpeech 
Never clap your hands - - 

Action moftly with the right hand.— Inftances where 

the' left alone may be ufed 
To place the right hand on the breaft.— If left handed, 

hOw to manage - ~ 

Action from the left to the right 
When action advifable, to begin it when you begin to 

fpeak - - " 

Motion of your hands to fuit the thing fpOken of 
A&ion muft fuit the figures you make ufe of 
The hands never, or feldom, higher than the eyes 
Your arms not to be ftretched out tideways* from your 

body, but a certain diftance ^ - ' " 

Raife your hand in fwearing,. exclamations, &c. 
Not to ufe too much action - 

Some actions not "to be attempted by the hands 
When you talk for another perfon, what adlion to ufe 
Perfon. How it ought to be managed 
The head. How to manage it 
The face. Hints refpecling its management when 

fpeaking 
The eyes. How to regulate their motion 
How to draw tears from your own, as well as your audi- 
tors' eyes 
Of lifting up the eyes, or carting them down 
Eye-brows. How they fhoukl be managed 
The mouth. How to manage it 
The lips. Net to bite them 
Lafdy. The ilioulders - - 

.A# eilay on the eloquence of the Pulpit in England 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 



Of speaking. Honv to make yourfelf heard without 
any difficulty, 

THE firft thing to which a fpeaker ought to at- 
tend, when he gets up, is to make himfelf heard, 
not only with eafe to himfelf, but to thofe who com- 
pofe his auditory ; for if he is not heard without diffi- 
culty by them, they will not give themfelves the trouble 
of attending, as they are unwilling to plague themfelves 
about that which requires fo much of their attention. 
Befides the ear being at fuch great pains to make out 
the words, the mind would be thereby inattentive to 
the matter delivered. 

To avoid thefe inconveniences, you ought to have a 
dear Jlrong voice, fo that you may be able to fill the 
place in which you fpenk, and that your tones may 
reach the ear of the fartheft perfon in die affembly. 
Some people have this power naturally, and in this re- 
fpect are peculiarly fortunate, if they difcharge their 
duty by improving it to the belt advantage. But by 
thofe whom nature has not fo favoured, great things 
may be done, if they call in the afliftance of art, fup- 
pofmg there is nothing defective in their organs of 
fpeech, for in that cafe it would be much better for 
them to turn their mind to fome other purfuit than 
that which requires a public delivery. 

HowtoJIrengihen the voice. 

If your voice be only weak and inclined to tenuity, 
fpeak aloud in your chamber a quantity every day of 
whatever you may be reading. — At firft do not deliver 
or read out much, for you may thereby injure inftead 
of ft lengthening your organs— Increafe the quantity by 
B degrees 



24 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

degrees, for it is by degrees and perfeverance that you 
may hope to accomplifh your purpofe. Your organs 
will thus gradually open, and your tones will gain pow- 
er every day. — It is aftonifhing how practice will 
flrengthen and give vigour to the voice, and ultimately 
bring it to a perfection that will enable the fpeaker to 
do almofl any thing with it. That of Demofthenes was 
naturally weak, and it was by practice, and no other 
means, that he brought it to fufficient ftrength. If, 
therefore, you have nothing to complain of but a weak 
voice, do not defpair, but purfue what others have fuc- 
cefsfully done before you, and read or deliver aloud by 
yourfelf fuch a quantity which you think will not over- 
ftrain your powers. 

faultering. How to get rid of it. 

If you are apt to faidter in your fpeech, accuflom 
yourfelf, in your private readings, to pronounce your 
words and fyllables fo difinclly one after another, that 
they may all have their full found and proportion. When 
you have done this for fome time, and have got a habit 
of fpeaking deliberately plain, you may afterwards ex- 
prefs yourfelf more fluently, and without that care and 
deliberation fo effentially necelTary at iirft. If you find 
it a very difficult matter to avoids this fault of faultering 
or flammering, and that when you come to particular 
fentences or phrafes — in that cafe you would do well to 
change the order of the words, infer ting a fmooth parti- 
cle or two, and putting fynonymous words into the place 
of thofe which made you faulter, and you will thus 
eafily correct yourfelf of the error. 

of bellowing, or speaking too lqud — To be avoided. 

It is very unbecoming and difagreeable to fpeak fo loud, 
or rather to bellow out fuch a tremendous found as renders 
every thing faid fo confufed, that all articulation is de- 
ftroyed. — Many people think that this gives a dignity 
and majefly to what they fay ; but on the contrary it 
deprives their fpeeches of one of their greateft objects, 
that of being clearly and dtftinfily heard. This method 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 15 

is fo destructive of all good fpeaking, that the words 
may be laid, not to be uttered, but that every thing is a 
confufed huddle of found and noife. 

MUMBLING, Cr SPEAKING TOO MUCH TO YOURSELF 

To be corretled. 

This is an error quite contrary to the one I have juft: 
mentioned, and takes place when a man does not open 
his mouth wide enough to give proper room for his words 
to pais. By this means he makes a kind of rumbling 
noife about the roof oi his mouth, as if he were fpeaking 
out of a cave or a hog/head, and hardly ever fends forth 
one dijlincl found, or conveys one articulate word, much 
farther than his teeth or lips. This hollow way of fpeak- 
ing is no leis unpleafant than the one above mentioned. 

THE VOICE TO EE MADE SOFT and AGREEABLE to the 
EAR. 

As the wifli of a fpeaker is certainly to be heard with 
pleafure and delight, he ought to endeavour to make 
his voice asfweet, fcft, and agreeable as he poiTibly can 
— Every thing harp and difcordant in his tones muft be 
got rid t)f, and which for the mod part arife from 
nothing elfe but bad habits — But where the fault lies in 
the natural formation of his organs, in that cafe no ef- 
fectual remedy can be adminiilered, but perfeverance 
and a little labour may certainly do a great deal. That, 
the art of foftening and harmonising the voice may be 
acquired by care and indujlry is plain from what Cicero 
did in this particular ; for he had a very rude coarfe voice 
before he went into Greece, but by flaying there fome 
time he brought it, by habit, to fo much fweetnefs and. 
delicacy, that he charmed the ear with the foftejl founds 
imaginable. You muft therefore try to give your voice 
flich Afmcothnefs, that the turns, tones, and cadences of it 
may pleafe the ear of your auditor, although he mould 
not understand in the ieafi: either your language, or the 
fubjed you are fpeaking of. 



NEVER 



16 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

never Spit, or hem, while fpeahng. 
Several people have a cuftom of f pitting and hemming 
in their fpeech, which are not only difgufting to the 
eyes and ears of their hearers, but considerably interrupt 
dieir delivery. — The latter habit is very common even 
among the firft fpeakers in both the Houfe of Lords and 
Commons. The late Lord Jljhburton had it to very great 
excefs, which rendered him, with ether caufes, a moil 
dif agreeable and ungracious deliverer, although what he 
faid was always to the purpofe, and logically correct- 
Both thefe vices fhould be carefully avoided. 

OF VARYING THE VOICE. 

You ought to vary the voice according to the changes 
of your fubjecl:, the pajfions you would exprefs your- 
felf, or excite in others, the feveral parts of your fpeech, 
and according to the nature of the words you make 
ufe of.- — There is nothing fo grating to the ear of an 
auditory, or that gives them fo much difguft, as a voice 
continually in the fame key, without the leaft divifion or 
variety, and yet this is the common fault of moil fpeak- 
ers. There are few voices fo bad that might not be 
rendered not only bearable, but pleafant, if their owners 
knew how to give them thofe turns and variations which 
are fo neceflary in the courfe of a fpeech, in order to 
keep alive the attention of the hearer. A uniformity of 
tone not only palls upon the ear, but is. extremely prej- 
udicial to whatever you fay — It places every part of a 
fpeech on the fame level, takes away all power from that 
which ought to have the gresite&Jtrength, not only of 
argument but of exprejfwn, and reduces all to that equal- 
ity of found, which gives no more diflinclion to the paf- 
fions, than to the dryeii part of a cold and regular narra- 
tion. This monotony is too common a fault on the flage, 
in the pulpit, the fenate, at the bar, and, in fafl a in ev* 
ery place where public fpeaking is praclifed. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 17 



HOW TO CURE YOURSELF OF A MONOTONOUS TO~NE. 

The heft way to get rid of a monotony of tone, is to 
attend particularly to common conversation, to the chit* 
chat of a tea-table, or the method with which people 
pronounce their ordinary difcourfe. Mind likewife the 
way that women exprefs themfelves when they feel the 
fubject they talk upon ; fuch as when they pronounce 
their forrows for the lols of a hujband, a child, or any 
other fond and beloved relative. When you have done 
this, endeavour to exprefs yourfelf, when in private, af- 
ter the fame manner as if upon the fame occafions. — By 
thefe means you will infenfibly improve your voice 
and, in time, give it that richnefs and variety, which are 
effentially neceffary to your becoming a popular fpeaker. 

RULES FOR VARYING THE VOICE. 

There are the following diftinctions in the voice — 
A high tone or a low one, a vehement or zfoft one, a 
fwift or flow one. The fpeaker's bufmefs is to keep 
up a juft meafure in thefe diftinctions, and thereby 
obferve that variety which I have fhewn is fo effential. 
The principal thing is to maintain a proper medium of 
tone, becaufe any extreme is exceedingly difagreeable. 
Firft, with refpect to its height, you ought to take care 
not to raife it, as fome people do, continually to the 
highejl note it can reach, or, on the other hand, mud 
you fink it fo low, as to render yourfelf fcarcely intelli- 
gible. To be conftantly Jlraining it to the top deftroys 
the folemnity of preaching, the weight and dignity of 
pleading, and gives to every thing you fay 2ifqueaking ef- 
feminacy, unbecoming a manly and imprejfive fpeaker. 
It often likewife creates a har/h and unmufical found, 
and frequently occafions a hoarfenefs in the throat, that 
will prevent you from being able to do the fmallefl jus- 
tice to whatever you afterwards fay. The contrary ex* 
treme is juft as bad ; for to utter in a low lafs is a kind 
of muttering, and you may as well fit down as continue 
in fuch an unintelligible manner, not one word in ten 
reaching the ear of your auditors. To cure yourfelf of 
B 2 thefe 



18 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

thefe imperfections, when you are alone attune the" 
tones of your voice to your ear, (which ought to be 
nicely correct) and whatever offends it immediately try 
to amend, and bring it to that harmonious found which 
is pleafant to yourfelf; for if your organs of hearing 
be perfed, they will ferve, in this refpetf:, as a jufl and 
faithful guide. 

NOT TO BE TOO VIOLENT WITH YOUR VOICE. 

Do not be fond o£ forcing your tones too often to that ve- 
hemence which you cannot fupport long without confid- 
erable pain to yourfelf, and which, perhaps, might be the 
means of cracking your voice, which, like the firings of a 
mujical inftrument, frequently breaks when wound up too 
high. On the contrary, you fhould not be too gentle 
and mild fpoken, as thefe deftroy the force and energy of 
your fpeech, and make it no more attended to, than the 
flimfy tone of an ordinary flory-teller. 

TOO GREAT A VOLUBILITY TO BE AVOIDED. 

The volubility of your utterance ought always to be 
moderated in fuch a manner as to prevent you from be- 
ing too precipitate, a fault which moil people commit, 
and which injures very materially their articulation 5 
for it often creates a thicknefs in their fpeaking, one 
word following another with fuch rapidity, that all pro- 
nunciation is deftroyed, and every thing is hurried and 
confufed* This is a vicious mode of delivery, and what- 
ever abilities you may otherwife have, this one error 
will render them all as ufelefs. All fluency fhould be 
kept within bounds, or elfe it becomes an unmeaning 
gabble, and a chaotic jumble of words. The object of 
elocution is to perfuade ; but how can a fpeaker expect 
to convince his hearers, if he does not give them time to 
think, or reafon, upon what he fays ? and how mould a 
jury be able to keep up with a lawyer whofe language 
may be faid to ridepofl P — Of reafons and arguments 
thus hurled upon the ear as quick as Jlafhes of lightning 
upon the eye, it is impoffible that one in twenty can be 

remembered, 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 19 

remembered, and confequently they mull effectually 
fail of their intended effect. 

This practice of fpeaking too fail, without obferving 
the proper paufes, is a great dij advantage to the fpeaker 
himfelf, as well as an indecency to an auditory. Di& 
Unction of periods, the fine cadences that adorn and il- 
luflrate a fpeech with grace and ornament, cannot be 
preferved in the confufion of precipitation, and the proper 
time of drawing the breath not being allowed, the lungs 
are very often thereby confiderably affected. Every perfon 
who wifhes to diftinguifh himfelf as a fpeaker, mould 
carefully avoid this error, but not go to the other ex- 
treme, which is equally as bad, namely, 

SPEAKING TOO SLOW. 

The habit of drawling out by degrees, and with the 
fame regular tenor of found, one word heavily after 
another, has a moft fomniferous effect upon the atten- 
tion, and Ihould therefore be got rid of. — The befl way 
is to regulate your tongue agreeably to the ears cf your 
auditors, without either fpeaking fajter than they can 
follow you, or drawling out your words Jlower than 
they have patience to attend to. — Your fpeech ought to 
be fometimes jluent, but not too quick, and refemble, 
excepting where the paffions are concerned, more the 
jlow of a gliding ft ream, than the rapidity of a torrent. 

The diftinctions in the voice, which are here men- 
tioned, give the power of great variation of tone ; 
but this ought net to be done over hijTuy (excepting in 
fome few occafions) with too confpicuous a difference be- 
tween one found and another ; but let one tone, as it 
were, melt or Jlide into another, and not make fuddenly 
fo palpable a change, as to thofe who did not fee you 
would appear as if another perfon had jufl darted up 
to fpeak. 

TO VARY THE VOICE ACCORDING TO THE SUBJECT. 

If you fpeak of fuch things as you wifh your hearers 
only to under/land, and nothing elfe, there is no need of 
any great heat or fpirit in your delivery, but a clear 

diftincl 



20 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

difimft voice will anfwer fufficiently the purpofe ; be- 
caufe your object is not to move the feelings and affec- 
tions fo much as to inform the underflanding — But if 
you defign to make your hearers admire the bounty 
and goodnefs of the Creator, his ivifdom and power, you 
muft do it with a grave voice, and with a tone of admi- 
ration. 

If you fpeak of the actions of any perfon that deferves 
commendation, and iuch as you would wifli to have your 
auditors value as much as you efleem them, yourf elf ; or 
if you fpeak of thofe that are unjujl and infamous, and 
which you would have your hearers abhor and detejl as 
mudras you do, you muft adjuft your voice to the quality 
of the one and the other — expreffing the firft with a/w//, 
lofty, and a kind of fatisfadory tone, and the other with 
a Jlrong, violent^ and pajjionate voice, and with a tone of 
anger and. deteftation. 

If you fpeak of the events of human life, you mufl 
give, in the relation, thofe that are fortunate, a brijh and 
cheerful tone, and thofe that are, on the contrary, unfor- 
tunate, with fad and mournful accents. The tone of 
mirth fuits well the character of good fortune and a mel- 
ancholy one is proper for any ftory refpecling difappoint- 
ment and qffliBicns. The one is a 'fuhjecr. of gaiety and 
crood humour, and the other of melancholy and dejection. 

Things refpe&ing nature muft be fpoken with a tone 
of eafe and ckarnefs, but require no exertion, we 
mean in plain narration — Yet thofe are not all alike, 
for fome are more coniiderable than others with refpect 
to their grandeur, beauty, and luflre — fuch, for inftance, 
are the heavens, more noble than the earth, the fun and 
flars are far fdperior to herbs and infecls ; and therefore 
they are not to be fpoken of with the fame tone of voice, 
or equal ftrefs of pronunciation. 

The aclicms and events of human life too are not all fim-r 
ilar, becaufe a great crime, or an extraordinary cruelty, is 
infinitely worfe than the omiffion of the payment of a 
common debt ; the noble exploits of a brave conqueror are 
to be confidered as dpferving a higher rank than the 
vulgar actions of "a captain of a mob; and the fafety of a 

whole 



PUBLIC SPEAKING- 21 

whole kingdom is of more confequence than the intereft 
of a private individual — They then confequeiily require, 
whenever they are introduced into a difcourfe, a differ- 
ent kind of delivery, according to the diverfity of the 
fubjects ; for it would be ridiculous to fpeak common 
and ordinary things with a folemn tragical tone, and 
equally abfurd, on the other hand, to fpeak of great and 
important affairs with a tone cf unconcern and familiar i- 
tj , fit only for the prattle cf a tea-table. 



HOW TO VARY THE VOICE ACCORDING TO THE PAS- 
SIONS, 

The bed way to make others feel the fame pajjion or 
ajfeclion of the mind you would wiih to expreis, is to 
confider with care and attention what you are going to 
fpeak of; "force your foul (as Shakefpeare ' fays ) to 
your own conceit," and you will thereby be fenfibly 
touched with the fubjedl, and be able to move others 
upon it with more effectual fympatby. Some orators 
have brought, by art, a counterfeit refernblance of feeling 
to much perfection, and although, at the time, they 
have not felt t ha? f elves y it ill have contrived to make 
their auditors feel, and that to an aftcnifhing degree — 
But there have been but few who have excelled in this 
talent, for without it is exquiiitely done, the whole de- 
ception is immediately feen through, and confequently 
can have no ether power but that of creating liabili- 
ty in the audience. The method I have above advifed, 
and which is more particularly mentioned in a fubfe- 
quent part of this work, is infinitely the beft, and can 
by habit be accompliihed by almoft every body whofe 
feelings are properly refined. If you are offered, your 
emotion will foon diiplay itfelf by the voice, which, 
like xhejlring of an itiflrument^ will found as it is touched, 
It will exprefs love by a foft, gay, and charming tone ; 
hatred by S.Jbarp, fallen, and fvere one ; joy with a full, 
flowing, and brlfk tone ; and grief with a dull, beamy, and 
forro-zuful one, occafionally heaving a ftgh from the bof- 
om. Fear is demonstrated by a trembling agitated 
voice, fometicies interrupted by a perplexity and appre- 

henRon 



22 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

henfion of thought. Confidence, on the contrary, is dis- 
covered by a loud, Jlrong tone, always bold and daring, 
but ever within the bounds of decency and moderation. 
Anger is exprefied by a fharp, impetuous, and violent 
tone, often taking breath, and the utterance frequently 
/mothered by the Jlrength of the paffion — As for inftance 
in the tragedy of Cymbeiine, when Pofthumus fufpects 
the continency of Imogen : 

No fwearing 

If you will fwear you have not done it, you lie. — 
And I will kill thee if thou doft deny 

Thu'ft made me a cuckold 

O that I had her here, to tear he» limb -meal — 

I will go there — and do it in the court — before 

Her father I'll do fomething 

Oh ! all the devils ! 

This yellow lachimo in an hour — was't not ? 

Or lefs — at firft — perchance he fpoke not, > 

You mufl of courfe fpeak thefe words with an elevated 
and enraged tone, and with the accents of a man all on 
fire, and in a fury next to diffraction. And when Lear- 
is denied the liberty of fpeaking to his daughter : 

Vengeance ! plague ! death ! confufion ! 

Fiery ? what fiery quality ? 
„ —my breath and blood ! 



Fiery ? the fiery Duke ? — -tell the hot Duke that 
Again in the fame play : 

— Darknefs and de vils ! 



Saddle my horfes call my train together 

Degenerate baftard I'll not trouble thee 

It is evident that thefe exprefiions muft be fpoken in 
inch a manner, as if the paffion had aimoft chcahd up 

your 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 23 

your delivery, and that you cannot utter more words 
together, your choler and vexation being fo great. 

If you are moved with compajjion, and your tones be in 
ttnlfon with your feelings ; you will exprefs yourfelf with 
a, gentle companionate voice — As Mr. Erfkine did (in his 
memorable defence of Captain Bailie, 1776) who was 
charged with a libel by the Earl of Sandwich, then firfl 
lord of the admiralty, and one of the Governors of 
Greenwich-hofpital) in reading the following words, 
which are part of an affidavit of Charles Smith on his 
difmiffion from his fituation in the hofpital : 



That he received his difmiflion when languish- 
ing with ficknefs in the infimary, the confequence of which 
was, that his unfortunate wife, and feveral of his helplefs in- 
nocent children died in mifery and want ; the women actual- 
ly expiring at the gates of the hofpital. 

This fentence was delivered by Mr. Erfkine with the 
humuljl accents of commiferation* — His voice was com- 
pofed of fuch tones as affected every perfon who heard 
him. — Ke fpoke with paffion too ; but then it was the 
of a mind afflicted, and fenfibly touched with the 
fad and unfortunate fituation of him whom he alluded to. 

When Mr. Garrid, in the character of Lear, repeated 
the following lines : 

You fee me here, ye god;;, a poor old man, 
As full of grief as age, wretched in both ! 
If it be you that ftir thefe daughters hearts 
Againft their father, fool me not fo much 
To bear it tamely — touch me with noble anger ; 
O let not women's weapons, water-drops, 
Stain my man's cheeks. 

tie fpoke them with fuch a heart felt and deplorable tone, 
that the whole theatre was filled with grief and meU 

wV. 

ESTEEM 




24< PUBLIC SPEAKING. 



esteem or admiration, hoiv to exprefs them. 

If you would wifh to imprefs your audience with a 
refpect for the character of any particular perfon or 
perfons of whom you are fpeaking, and would teflify 
your own ejleem of him or them, you fhould do it with 
a lofty and magnificent tone, in the fame manner as Mr. 
Burke concluded his beautiful fpeech in fupport of 
Mr. Fox's famous India bill in the year 1784 : 

I anticipate with joy the reward of thofe whole whole 
confequence, power, and authority exifted only for the ben- 
exit of mankind ; and I carry my mind to ail the people, 
and all the names and defcriptions, that, relieved by this 
meafure, would blefs the labours cf that Parliament, and 
the confidence which the beft Houfe of Commons had 
given to him who beft deferved it. The little cavils of par- 
ty would not be heard where freedom and happinefs would 
be felt. There was not a tongue, a nation, a religion in 
India, which would not blefs the preficling care and manlr 
beneficence of that Houfe, and of him who propofed to 
them this great work. Their names would never be fep- 
arated before the throne of the Divine Goodnefs, in what- 
ever language, or with whatever rites, pardon was afked 
for fin, and reward for thofe who imitated the Godhead in 
his univerfal bounty to his creatures. 

Let any manfpeak thefe words with a low and langulffa 
ing voice, and nothing can appear more cold, flat, and 
injipid j but, on the contrary, let him pronounce them 
with a noble accent, and animate them with a lofty tone, 
agreeably to their own fpir/t and magnificence, and then 
they will appear in their own proper litfire, create in 
an auditory the higheft admiration, and delight perhaps 
as much as if they came from the mouth cf the origin- 
al fpeaker. 

MEMPT. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING, 



contempt. How to exprefs it by the Voice. 

If you would wifh to fhew the contempt you have for 
a man, and expofe him to the audience, you muft do it 
with a fcornful tone ; but without the fmalleft pajfion^ 
eagernefsy or 'violence of voice, as, no doubt, Cicero did, 
when he fpoke to CaciHus, who pretended to be pre- 
ferred before him for pleading in the accufation of Vet res* 

But you, Cac'rfim, pray what can you do ? Where's 
your capacity upon this mighty pretenfion of yours ? 
w*hen, and upon what affair have you ever made any 
trial of your fkill, or given any proofs of your parts and 
fufficiency to men of fenfe, and have not attempted at the 
fame time upon your own weaknefs, and run the hazard 
both of your reputation and judgment ? Do you not con- 
lider the difficulty of managing the caufe of the common- 
ivealth, of maintaining the peace of the public from dif- 
grace and oppreffion, of unravelling the whole life of a 
man from the firfl breath of bufinefs, and not only of 
fetting it forth in its proper colours to the underftanding 
of the judges, but of expofing it alfo to the whole world ; 
the difficulty of defending the fafety and welfare of allies, 
the intereft of provinces, the power of laivs y and the au- 
thority of our courts of judicature ? Take it from me, 
Sir, this is the firft opportunity you have met with of 
learning fomething from your betters. 

There is also a fine example of contempt from a reply 
made by Lord Chatham, when Mr. Pitt, in the year 
1740, to Mr. IVinnington, who had called him to or- 
fler, but in fo doing had himfelf ufed very illiberal 
terms. 

If this be to preferve order (faid Mr. Pitt) there is no 

danger- of indecency from the mod licentious tongue ; 

C far 



25 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

for what calumny can be more atrocious, or what re- 
proach more fevere, than that of fpeaking with regard to 
any thing but truth. Order may fometimes be broke by 
pafEon or inadvertency, but will hardly be reeftablifhed 
by a monitor like this, who cannot govern his own paf- 
fion, whilft he is reftraining the impetuofity of others. 

Happy would it be for mankind if every one knew 
his own province ; we fhould not then fee the fame man 
at once a criminal and a judge ; nor would this gentle- 
man aflume the right of dictating to others what he has 
not learned himfelf. 

Thefe are fpeeches of flight and difdain. If fpoken 
with a pajjionate voice, and with an appearance of any 
concern and indignation, their proper effect is at once 
deftroyed, for the objects fpoken of are not thought 
worthy of anger or refentment, but merely of contempt, 
/corn, and deri/ion. You would be laughed at, if you 
anfwered a dull reafon with heat and cholcr, or fpoke in 
ZLpqffion againft that which deferves only to be trifled 
with — It would be filly to exert the laft effort of your 
voice, in reply to fome puny injignificant arguments, 
as if you made ufe of Hercules' club to kill a worm, 
which is eafily trod to pieces, and crufhed under foot. 

A GRIEVANCE COMPLAINED OF HoiV tQ be exprejfed. 

When you fpeak of any alufes you have received 
from a perfon, you muft of courfe deliver it in a dif- 
ferent manner to the laft, and exprefs the injujlice you 
complain of with an elevated tone, proportioning the 
vehemence and pajfion of your voice to the cruelty of the 
injury ; for if you fpoke it without the leaft heat or 
concern, your auditors would neither believe what you 
fa'id to be true, nor that yow were in the fmalleft degree 
aggrieved. — This was the reafon that Demojlhenes rep- 
rimanded a man that came to him upon an affauk and 
lattery, and defired him to plead his caufe for him ; 
telling him the plain truth of the bufmefs with a great 

deal 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. Ti 

deal of ftmplicity, and Ihewing no manner of concern or 
vexation by his voice. Why, fays the counfellor, / com- 
not believe what you tell me. But another man having 
told him the fame ftory over again in a great pajjtcn, 
with a fpirit of fury and revenge for the affront ; Well* 
1 believe you (fays he) now you J peak with the accent and 
zeal of a man that has been affaulted and beaten. This 
plainly mows with what a tone of voice, he thought, a 
perfon ought to fpeak upon opprejfion and injury, either 
to be believed, cr to make good his caufe. 

Almoft innumerable are the fituations in which the 
changes and inflexions of the voice are highly neceffary ; 
but as I do not purpofe to enter at large into any of the 
parts of fpeaking, but merely to make fuch fcattered 
obfervations as I think will effentially ferve thofe who 
want immediate afliftance, I fhall conclude this part of 
my labour, by obferving, that the beft way to acquire 
the faculty of varying the voice, not only when the paf 
fans are concerned, but in places where they are not 
called forth, yet where great difference cf tones is nec- 
effary, is to be often reading comedies, tragedies, or any 
dramatic works, as nothing elfe will be found to im- 
prove you, in this particular, half fo much as thefe". 

exordium. What kind cf tone to vfe in it. 

The exordium ought to be fpoken with a low and 
modefl voice ; for to begin in an unprefuming tone is not 
only agreeable to the auditors, as it mews how great a 
refpecl you have for them, but is alfo an advantage to 
yourfelf ; for you will thereby be able to manage your 
voice much better, and work it up, by degrees of mod- 
eration, to a higher pitch of warmth and pq//i:n, which, 
not attended to, will caufe you at firft to be out of 
beath, for want of proper management, and perhaps 
ycu will not be able to recover yourfelf during the 
whole of your fpeech. This does not, however, mean 
that ycu fhould begin fo low as to be heard by only a 
few people ; but on the contrary, you ought to fpeak 
at firft, fo clear and diflincl as to be heard without the 
lead difficulty by every attentive auditor. Some cler - 

gymen 



& PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

gymen are very faulty in beginning their difcourfcs (6 
k<W, that hardly any perfon in the congregation can 
hear them ; but, all of a fudden they raife their voices to 
iuch a height, that every body's ears are both offended 
and aftoniihed. 

The proper method is to fpeak the exordium in a 
joft and mfy tone, and in a lower key, together with a 
more humble addrefs, than tile other parts of your fpeeclu 
But this rule admits of an exception ; for there are 
Tome exordiums that do not fall under it, fuch as thofe 
which begin in an abrupt and unexpected manner — As* 
that of Mr., Fox in the Houfe of Commons, in Febru- 
ary 1784, in anfwer to' a declaration from Mr. Pitt, 
that his Majefty had not, in compliance with the relo, 
lutions of the Houfe, difmiired his minifters \ 



I have juft heard the declaration of the right honours 
b)e gentleman with the greatefl: aftonifliment and con- 
cern. It was a language that Houfe had never heard 
iince the revolution, or at leaf* fmce the acceffion of the 
prefent royal family. What was it but a flat and pe- 
remptory negative to the fentiments and wifhe6 of the 
Houfe of Commons, who on their part had employed ev- 
ery caption and every delicacy ? In what iituatfen then 
was this branch of the legislature involved ?■ To what de- 
gree of insignificance were the reprefentatives of the peo- 
ple and tfye people themfelves reduced ? Could it be faid 
that they Jjad any longer the leaft influence in the confU- 
tution of the country ? I will anfwer boldly, and to the 
point :— In my opinion the matter is nearly at a enns. 



So abrupt an exordium as this is not very common, and 
ieldom found but upon very extraordinary occasions — - 
When, however, fuch a one is ufed, it is evident, that 
it is to be fpoken with an elevated tone, according to the 
pajjiony either of anger that tranfports, or of grief that 

afflitfs. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 29 

affli&s, and which obliges you to fet out fo abruptly m 
your difcourfe. 

narration. What tone necejfary. 

It is not in the lead neceffary to ra'ife your voice to 
any great vehemence, as many do, upon the proportion 
or narration of your fpeech ; for your bufmefs in this 
part of your fpeech is to inform your hearers, in order 
to make them properly underiland the fubject in quef- 
tion. It is therefore fufficient that your tone be a lit- 
tle higher than that in which you fpeak trie exordium ; 
only you mult take care* that your articulation be very 
clear and dijlincl, becaufe the narration lays the ground- 
work of the whole fpeech, and therefore it is abfolute- 
ly neceffary that you mould make it well heard, if you 
intend to raife your arguments upon that foundation. 
This is not the proper place for any vehemence of voics, 
which mull be kept in referve for the following parts 
of your fpeech. 

confirmation and confutation. What tone necef- 
fary. 

In thefe lies the greatejl Jlrefs of your fpeech, and th e 
laft effort of your voice ; for as your mind is more en- 
gaged here, in the firft by fetting forth your arguments, 
and in the other by folving. youx adverfaries' objeclions, 
and when, at this place all the adorning figures of rhet- 
oric are made ufe of, you ought therefore to fpeak 
with the greateft force and impreffion, and give your de- 
livery as much variety cf tone as poffible, confining the 
whole, however, within the beunds of decency and mod- 



peroration. What tone to be ufed'. 

You would do well (and Mr. Erjkine generally 
practifes it with great effect) to make a confiderable 
paufe between this part and the former, and to begin 
it with a lower tcne than that in which you fpoke the 
Confutation. As you proceed a little, you ihould break 
fvrxh into a louder voice, and conclude your fpeech with 
C2 a 



30 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

a kind of triumphal tone, upon an affurance that you 
have fufficiently made good your caufe, and that to the 
entire fatisfadtion of your whole auditors — As Mr. 
'Erfkine did in his glorious defence of the Dean, of St, 
Afaph in 1784 : 

As the friend of my . client, and the friend of my coun- 
try, I fhall feel much forrow, and you yourfelves will 
probably hereafter regret it, when the feafon of repara- ' 
tion is fled. (Noiu he broke forth into a tone of full confi- 
dence that there ivas m reafon to fear his fuccefs.) But 
why fliould I indulge fuch unpleafant apprehenfions i 
when in reality I hear nothing ? I know it is impoffible 
for Englifh gentlemen, fitting in the place you do, to 
pronounce this to be a feditious paper ; much lefs upon 
the bare fact of publication explained by the prefixed ad- 
vertifement, and the defendant's general character and de- 
portment, to "give credit to that feditious purpofe which 
is necefTary to convert the publication of a libel itfelf 
into a crime. 

FIGURES of RHETORIC. 

What tone to he ufed in /peaking fome of them. 

, exclamation. The proper tone to be ufed. 

The figure Exclamation clearly fhews by its name 
that it muft be pronounced with a louder voice, and a 
more imprejfive accent than any other. As for example, 
when the illuftrious Chatham, not long before his death, 
exclaimed in the Houfe of Lords, at the time that they 
were debating upon the calamitous event at Saratoga : 

What ! has fome dreadful inundation, lias fome tre- 
mendous earthquake fwallowed half the empire, that the 
nation fhould ftand thus deprived of fenfe and motion ! 

Ii you v fgeak thefe words without any elevation of the 

voice, 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 31 

voice, you deprive them of ail their ornament and force x 
and inftead of the animated effect which would follow 
them, if properly delivered, the whole becomes dulU 
lifelefs, and infipid.. 

swearing*. The fame tone proper.. 

The fame lofty tone is neceffary when you fwear by 
any thing, efpecially when there is fomething extraor- . 
dinary in what you are going to fay — -As in what Lear 
fays, when he difclaims all future intimacy with hisi 
daughter Cordelia : 

Let it it bb fo, thy truth then be thy dow'r s 
For by the facred radiance of the fun, 
The myfteries of Hecate, and the night, 
By all the operations of the orbs 
From whom we do exilt, and ceafe to be ; 
Here I difclaim all my paternal care, 
Propinquity and property of blood, ' 
And as a flranger to my heart and me 
Hold thee from this for ever. — -. — . . 

Garrich ufed to repeat thefe lines with an elevation, o£. 
voice, as well as great rapidity of utterance, that almcil 
chilled every perfon who heard him. 

PROSOPOPOEIA. 

You ought, in this figure, to change your voice, fo 
that it may immediately appear as if it were not you 
fpeaking for yourfelf but for another perfon introduced 
in the courfe of your fpeech. — -You mufl like wife vary 
your tone according to the characler and buftnefs of the • 
affumcd perfonage.— For inftance, if you bring into 
your difeourfe a plain venerable old man, your manner 
of fpeaking for him would be of courfe very different 
to that you would make ufe of for a young fafhicnable 
rake. — This is fo apparent that no example is necefTary. 

If you would introduce a man talking with hirrfelf 'upon 



32 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

a point of great moment, and arguing in his own bread 
what he mould do in the bufinefs, you muft do it with 
a loiv voice, as if he were only fpeaking to himfelf and 
within his own hearing alone, intending not to be over- 
heard by any other perfon. Here is an example from 
Tiilfy-S Oration for Cluenthis, where he fays of Stalenus : 

When the poor perfidious wretch faw a round fum of 
money brought home to him, he began to think of all 
the ivays and means that malice, corruption, and fraud 
could invent. Talking thus ivitb himfelf: — If I fhould 
let the red of the judges come in now for fhacks with me, 
ivhat {hould I get by the bargain but danger and dif- 
grace ? Can I think of nothing to have this Oppianicus 
condemned for it ? What then- ! Why 1*11 try what can- 
be done, &c. 

Apostrophe-.. The tone necejjary. 

You ought particularly to attend, in this figure, to 
the nature of the object you addrefs, and to the reafons 
you have in making ufe of it, fo that you may adjuft 
the turn of your voice accordingly. For inftance, when 
you fpeak to inanimate things, you muft. raife your voice 
above an ordinary pitch, or a common tone, as no doubt 
Cicero did in pronouncing that fine apoftrophe, in his 
fpeech for Milo. 

I call you to witnefs, ye mounts, and groves of Alba ! 
and ye ruined altars of the Albans ! once glowing with 
focial and equal rites — Ye altars ! which the profane mad- 
nefs of Clodius has overthrown, and buried under the 
frantic piles of tafkelefs extravagance. 

If you make an apoftrophe to God, many writers on or- 
atory have pointed out the neceffity of railing your 
voice to a confulerable height, as if you were to be heard 
afar-off—Tor when you fpeak, fay they, as it i|ere to 

T the 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. S3 

the Divinity you ought of courfe to fj)eak in a higher 
jlrain and in a loftier tone, than if you were fpeaking 
only to men upon the fame level as yourfelf. — This 
method, in fome cafes, will .anfwer very well, but in. 
many others a low, grave, and deliberate tone will fuit 
much better the folemnity of an appeal to the Deity, 
This was fufficiently proved by the manner in which 
Mr. Erjkine fpoke the following lines, at nearly tbs 
commencement of his admirable defence of Hardy — 

Ke (alluding to the prifone-r) holds his. life from the 
law, and by it he demands to be tried. This fair trial I 
afk ; firft from the courts— I afk; it more emphatically from 
the jury — but (here he loivercd his voice to the irfmcfi fotemnh- 

iyj laftly, and chiefly, I implore it of him in whole hands 
are all the iflues of life, whofe juft and merciful eye ex- 
ppjids itfelf over all the tranfacSHons of mankind, without 
whom not a fparrow falleth to the ground, and at whofe 
command nations rife and fall, and arfc regenerated. I im- 
plore it of God himfelf, that he will fill your minds with 
the fpirit of juftice, and of truth, that you may be able to 
lind your way through the labyrinth of matter laid before 
you ; a labyrinth in which no man's life was ever before 
involved in the whole hiftory of Eritifh trial, nor indeed 
the univerfaj annals of human juftice or injufuce. 

epimone. In what tone to utter it. 

In this figure the fpeaker preffes upon a particular 
point, and dill injifting upon it, expreffes it over and over 
again, until he makes it ridiculous by the repetition. 
Here j ou would do well to ufe a brilk, puffing, and, as 
it were, a kind of infilling tone upon thofe parts where 
you lay the principal Jlrefs y in order to rivet them upon 
the attention of your hearers — which method Mr. Sher- 
idan adopted in one part of his fpeech on his motion in 
1793, in order to conilder of the feditious practices, &c. 
referred to in his Majefty's fpeech. 

My 



U PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

My friend (Mr. Windfeam) has been panic J?r*c£, and 
now ftrengthens the hands of government. Not later than 
the pceceding feflions be would pull off the tnafk of perfidy, 
and declaimed loudly againft that implicit confidence which, 
fome had argued ought to be placed in minifters. It was 
owing entirely to this panic that Mr. Windham now pre- 
vailed with himfelf to fupport the minifler becaufe he had a 
lad opinion of him. It was owing to this panic that a 
Eoble and learned lord (Loughborough) had given his 
difnterejled fupport to government, and it was owing to 
this panic that he accepted the feals of an adminiftration 
he had uniformly reprobated. But above all it was owing 
to this panic that a right honourable gentleman (Mr. 
Burke) had loft his fine tafte, and defcended to the mod 
ridiculous pantomimic tricks, and contemptible juggling — 
fuch as to carry knives and daggers to aflift him in efforts 
of defcriptipn. 

parrhesia. The tone necejfary* 

This is a figure in which you take the liberty of fay- 
ing very held things, in fact whatever you like, let the 
danger be what it will, where there is any confidence 
in the caufe, or any fear of lofmg it — When you prac- 
tife it, your voice muft be full and loud, as upon the 
following words of Tully in his oration for Ligarius : 

O admirable clemency ! worthy of eternal praife, hon- 
our, and memory. Cicero has the boidnefs now before 
Cafar to confefs himfelf guilty of a crime for which he 
cannot endure another fliould be falfely arraigned, neither 
does he fear the private refentments of his judge for it — 
See how undaunted I am now upon the confidence of your 
goodnefs. See the great lights of generonty and wifdom 
that countenance me from your royal afpeet. I will raife 

my 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 35 

my voice as loud as I can, that all the people of Rome 
may hear me. The war being begun, Sir, and almoft 
ended, I went over to your enemy s camp before the finifh- 
ing ftroke of it, upon my own choice, and without any 
compulfatiotu 

climax. How to manage the voice* 

When your fpeech climbs up by degrees through fev~ 
eral claufes of a fentence to a period or full point, it is 
evident that the voire muft accordingly rife by the fame 
gradations of elevation to anfwer every ftep of the figure, 
until it is at the utmqft height of it — As in this climax 
of Mr. Erikine's in his fpeech in defence of Mr. Tooke, 
on the late ftate trials, alluding to the trial by jury : 

There (till remains that which is even paramount 

to the law — that great tribunal which the wifdom of our 
anceftors raifed in this country for the fupport of the peo- 
ple's rights — that tribunal which has made the law, that 
tribunal which has given me you to look at — that tribu- 
nal which is furrounded with an hedge, as it were, fet 
about it — that tribunal which from age to age has been 
righting for the liberties cf flie people, and without the 
aid of which it would have been in vain for me to ftand 
up before you, or to think of looking round for afiiftance. 

ANTITHESIS. Ho<W to fpeck it. 

You mufl particularly diftinguifh both the contraries , 
and pronounce the firfl of them with a different tons 
from the latter — this with a louder accent than that, to 
fhew the oppofition between the one and the other ^ and to 
adjuft the voice to the contrariety. As in the following 
example, in the fecond Calilinary : 

If we will but compare both parties, and weigh the jus- 
tice, and the re«fons of the one againft: the other, we fhall 

find 



SB PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

find how inconfiderable our enemies are, and how eafy i t 
is to conquer them. For modefty fights on this fide, and 
impudence on that : here is purity of manners, there im- 
purity ; here is faith, there fraud ; here is piety, there wick- 
ednefs ; here is conflancy, there fool-hardinefs ; here is 
honour, there infamy ; here is continence, there lufl. Here, 
in fine, juftice, temperance, courage, prudence, and all 
kind of virtues are in confederacy, and contending with 
injuftice, with luxury, with cowardice, with temerity, and. 
all kind of vices, &c. &c. 

, I fhall not trouble the reader with any more of the 
figures which rhetoricians have given us, it not being 
neceifary to our prefent purpofe, and fhall therefore 
clofe them with the antithejis. 

br£ath. How to manage it in /peaking. 

There are fome fentences very Jhort, each part of which 
is but a fimple exprejjion, and confifts only of one Jingle 
propofition* As the following I 

He died young, but he died happy. His friends have 
not had him long, but his death is the greateft trouble 
and grief they ever had for the love and lofs of him. He 
has enjoyed the fiveets of the world only for a little while > 
but he never tafled the bitters of it. He has not taken a 
long tvali, but he went only upon flowers. 

Thefe periods can not only be pronounced with one 
breath, but can hardly be pronounced otherwife, with- 
out confiderably weakening their expreffion. 

There are fome fentences that are longer, fuch as the 
following : 

Look updn the world as a place where you will be lof- 

ing fomething every day, till you have loft-**// swwt have no 

more 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 37 

Iteore to lofe ; and with thefe meditations prepofTefs your 
foul, that, having its original from haven, it will one day 
have the happinefs to return thither* 

And this fentence may be alfo pronounced all at a 
breathy if your voice be tolerably good ; if you cannot 
do it with eafe to yourfelf, you mufl practife it ; for a 
period fo delivered comes rounder and fuller to the car> 
and appears with more fores and beauty than if you take 
breath often, 

long breath necejfary in afpeaker. How to acquire it* 

You mull endeavour, by frequent exercife, to ac* 
quire a habit of being long-winded, but it muft be done 
by degrees, for nature is not to be changed in a moment. 
She may do a great deal in this refpedt, but where there 
is a deficiency, art may do much. It is faid that De- 
mojlhenes, who had naturally a Jhort breathy finding the 
neceflity of a public fpeaker having a long one, gave a great 
atlor of comedy a thoufand drachmas to improve him in this 
particular — He ufed to exercife himfelf upon all the 
difficulties of refpiration, and while running up a hill* 
would repeat verfes, or parts of his harangues ; which 
cuftom particularly flrengthened his lungs, and in a 
fhort time, with pains and labour, he accomplifhed his 
purpofe. — Any perfon may by the fame means be as 
fuccefsful, if he will make the experiment. 

There are other periods that run confiderably longer 
than thofe I have given, which cannot be pronounced 
without taking breath twice or thrice — Asfor example : 

As it is prejudicial to one's healt'h to take food and 
not to digeft it, becaufe crude and indigefted meats create 
ill humours, and do not nourifh, but cloy and corrupt th« 
body : fo when the ftomach of the foul, that is the mem- 
ory, is filled with a great deal of knowledge.; if this 
knowledge be not well digefted by the warmth of charity »• 
if ii do not diffufe itfelf after that through the arUries and 



38 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

tnarroiv of the foul, and pafs into the aflions and maunen 
of men, and if it does not become good itfelf upon know- 
ing what is good, and what goes to the making of a good 
life ; does not this knowledge turn into fn } as that nutri- 
ment does into bad burnouts f 

You ought to pronounce the firft part of this period 
without taking breath*- — If you find you cannot utter 
the iecond in the .fame manner, it will be much better 
> for you to make a paufe at the beft place you can, than 
run yourfelf out of breath, which is deftru<5tive of what- 
ever you attempt then to repeat. 

clauses OF a period. How to manage them. 

In diftinguifhing the federal parts of a period, you 
muft not do it in fuch a way as if there were more peri- 
ods than one in a fentence. Where the dtjlintlion of the 
daufes are compelled to be prominent, you would do 
well to diftinguiih them by your pronunciation without 
taking breath, excepting there be fo many of them, that 
one Jingle re/pi ration cannot reach the end of the whole 
period. 

6H0RT periods. — Paufes after them different from theft 
after long ones. 

It is proper to make a paufe after every period, but it 
muft be a very fhort one after Tijhort period, and a little lon- 
ger after long ones. This rule muft of courfe be broke in- . 
to, when the fenfe requires that you fhould wait for fome 
confiderable time after a fentence, in order & leave an 
impreilion of fome weighty matter upon the mind, al- 
though the fentence perhaps be very fhort ; and, on 
the contrary, there are many Jong periods, after which 
you »may paufe but a very little time, as they contain 
nothing that is worthy of marking particularly on the 
attention. 

SUBSEQUENT PERIOD LOWER THAN THE CLOSE OF THE 
PRECEDING ONE. 

When you begin a period, you ought to do it in a 

lower 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 39 

tower lone than that in which you concluded the lajl. — * 
This will be found to give you eafe, and fave your 
powers, although in many cafes it is much better to be- 
gin it with a tone a little higher, than the cadence of 
the laft, in order to accord with the fenfe and fpirit of 
your fentence ; and in fo doing a variation of tone is 
created* which prevents you always beginning in the 
fame manner. 

PERIOD THAT REQUIRKS GREAT FORCE OF VOICE.—* 

How to manage the fentences immediately preceding. 

When you have a period to pronounce that requires a 
great elevation of the tone, you mull moderate and manage 
your voice with care, upon thofe periods that jujl pre* 
cede it ; left, by employing the whole force of it upon 
thofe, you exhauft yourfelf, and exprefs this languidly^ 
which requires more vigour and vehemence. It is in this 
management that Garrick particularly excelled ; as 
when Hamlet is collared by Laertes in Ophelia's grave, 
he exclaims, among other things ; 

Why, I will fight with him upon this theme, 
Until my eye-lids will no longer wag. 

The energy with which this great actor repeated 
thefe lines was fufficient to give them a certain force ; 
but it was not fo great as he w< uld 
called forth, had he not knewr 
for him to fave his p- vv r ?rs f 

Come fhew me what t 
Wou'd'fl: weep ? wou'd'ft fight 

tear thyfelf ? 
Wou'd'fl drink up Efrfe y eat a crocodile ? 
I'll Opt. Doft thou come hither but to whine j 
To out-face me with leaping in her grave ? 
Be buried quick with her ; and fo will I ; 
And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw 

Millions 



40 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

Millions of acres on us, till our ground, 
Singing his pate againft the burning zone. 
Make OJfa like a wart ! 

Here he exerted all his powers, which lie could wcx 
have done if he had fpent himfelf, and exhaufted his 
voice beforehand, upon any occafion that ju-ft pre- 
ceded. 

PRONUNCIATION* 

Your pronunciation (which word, by the bye, is very 
frequently called, by even decent people, pronuncia- 
tion) ought to be fuch as is commonly practifed in the 
ordinary convention of iudl bred companies. Their 
method of pronouncing words you muft make ycurfelf 
acquainted with, for it is the ftandard 6f pronunciation 
for the time, and there is a kind of falhion in this, as 
there is in almoft every thing elfe. Many words fpok- 
en twenty years ago were pronounced differently ten 
years after, and fome of thefe are at this time pro- 
nounced unlike what has been praclifed at any other pe- 
riod. Whatever impropriety there may be in this con- 
tinual fluctuation in the mode of uttering words, ftill 
that is a matter you may lament, but cannot rectify 
of yourfelf — Your, bufmefs, as a fpeaker, is to pro- 
nounce in fueli a runner as not to offend the ears of 
your auditors ; and the only way you can do this, is 
to fpeak the language according to common cuftom, we 
mean among thofe from whom we are fare to hear no 
vulgarifais of accent, or any vichus provincial pronunc'ta-* 
tiers. 

If any friend of yours has had greater opportunities 
than you have had of making himfelf acquainted with 
the elegant mode of pronouncing, you ought not to bo 
afhamed of afking his advice, whenever you entertain 
doubts refpedling the proper pronunciation of imyworJ \ 
and if you can perfuade him to be prefent whenever you 
fpeak in public, for the purpofe of fetting down thofe 
words in his mind which you pronounce wrong, and 
afterwards tell you of them, you will thereby be able, 

& 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 41 

m a (hort time, to correct younelf in inch improprie- 
ties, and bring your fpeech to that polj/lo and refinement, 
to attain which is one of the mod important objects 
that can poiUbly engage your attention. 

TO KEEP YOUR. VOICE UP TO THE END OF A SENTENCE. 

Many people have a moil vicious habit of gradually 
and regularly falling the voice as they proceed in a fen- 
tence, and when they come to the laft word it is hard- 
ly intelligible. This error you ought particularly to 
avoid — Your tone mud be kept up upon the pronuncia- 
tion of the lajl word of a period as audibly as in any oth- 
er part ; and this rule induced Garrick (who cautioufly 
attended to it himfelf ) at the hour of levity, when he 
was fuperintending a rehearfal, to give an actrefs, who 
was not remarkable for her ftrict obfervance of virtue, 
the following advice : — " My good Madam, the clofe of 
" your periods will not be heard by half tbe audience— 
11 For heaven's fake let your voice be audible to the very 
11 end — I am fure you muft know how abfolutely nee- 
" effary it is to keep up your end." The initrucrioa 
was good ; and the way in which he worded it created 
a titter among the furrounding performers, 



D2 ACTION. 



42 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 



ACTION. 

Action is one- of the moil important parts of orato- 
ry. The ancient orators, confidered it fo effential a 
qualification, that Demojlhenes declared, that it cornbin-, 
ed, in. itfelf, all the other qualities of elocution; and 
Tully was of the fame opinion when he faid, that it had 
the fole power and principal command of fpeech, and that 
it was the eloquence of the body. Qjuntllian wrote more 
upon it than any other writer of former times, and 
with greater judgment-^rMany of his rules may be 
read, even at the prefent time, with considerable ad- 
vantage ; although he has confined his inftructions fole- 
ly to the bar. Several things, however, he recommends 
the practice of, that cannot now be ufed^ — Such as 
" beating the brow, the head, the breajl, and thigh"-r-Yre- 
quent Jlamping he alfo advifes — Thefe motions in his 
time were much admired, but in ours could not be en-, 
dured. 

Hints reflecting act-ion tothofe who wj/i? to /peak grace*, 
fully in public. 

Action is fo generally allowed to beabfolutely necef-V 
fary in the good delivery of a fpeech, that every perfon 
who expreffes his fentiments in public, is fure to prac- 
tife it, but for the moft part in fo awkward, fo indegani r 
and fo inexpreffive a manner, that the eye of the auditor 
being difgufted and " repelled," to life the late Dr. 
Johnfon's expreffion, at the picture before him, the 
matter delivered, however ingenious and to the pur- 
pofe, fails of its effect. How to meliorate gentlemen 
in this particular, as well as in others, is the grand ob- 
ject of this little treatife ; although I fhall content my- 
felf with merely giving fuch hints as I am convinced 
will, when called forth into ufe, be found of effential 
practical fervice. 

In order to correct bad habits, and attain an elegant 
and expreffive a&ion in fpcaking, I particularly rec- 

onvmenA 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. *$ 

ommeud the choice of Aich company as are confidered 
by the world as well-bred and polifhed in their man*. 
ners. Attend clofely to the method with which they 
exprefs themfelves ; and, when yon return heme, en- 
deavour to call back your recollection to fuch parts of 
their action as moll forcibly engaged your attention, 
and afforded you the greater pie af are. Make a point, 
alfo, of remembering tke fentences or expreffions that 
gave rife to them, and try to repeat them (if before a 
glafs the better) in the fame manner that pleafed you, 
and by fo doing it will be in your power to compare 
your own method with thofe of other people, and cor- 
reel: yourfelf accordingly. If any one of your acquaint- 
ances is more particularly diftinguifhed for the elegance 
of his manners than the others, be frequently with him, 
clofely and attentively watch his every motion, action, 
and gefture ; and thus, by having a pleafmg and grace-, 
ful picture before your eyes, you will, by endeavouring 
to imitate what you admire, rid yourfelf of whatever 
bad habits you may have, and become, in time, almofl 
a type of the object of your admiration. 

I (hall here introduce a few rules, that may affifl you: 
in the attainment of the object before us. 

How to ufe the hands in Adion* 

The hands are the chief inftruments of aftiofi, and 
can be ufed in as many ways as there are things which 
they are capable of fignifying. We make ufe of them- 
in Accufmg, Intreating, 

Acquitting, Admiring, 

Promifing, Swearings 

Threatening, tffc. £$fc. 

and, in fact, In representing almofl every thing we 
fpeak cf, and which require fo many different actions 
of the hands. It was their general ufe that made 
Quintdian fay, that the other parts of the body mofl 
materially ajpjl him that fpeaks, but the hands, as it 
were, fpeak themfelves. The principal thing, however, 
is to move them with grace and elegance. The following 
may be of fomc fervice. 

FIRST. 



44 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

first, life no adtlon at the beginning of your fpeech. 

You muft make ufe of no aclion when you begin to 
fpeak, at leaft but very little, unlefs you make a kind 
of an abruht commencement, which fometimes happens, 
as was the cafe in a fpeech of the late Lord Chatham's, 
in the Houfe of Lords, on the 20th of January 1775, 
on a motion made by him for removing his Majefly's 
forces from Boilon. 



I rife with vaft aftonifhment to fee thefe papers* 
brought to your table at fo late a period of this bufinefs ; 
papers, I am fure, the contents of which are already 
known, not only to every noble lord in this houfe, but 
almoft to every perfon in this kingdom who has made 
American affairs in the lead an object of enquiry ; yet 
now, in the very tale of this bufinefs, when meafures 
fliould be longflnce determined on, we are furniflied with 
an empty parade of parchments — *to tell us what ? — why 
what the world knew before — that the American force, 
under injuries, and irritated wrongs, ftript of their inborn 
rights and deareft privileges, have refifted, and entered into 
aflbciations for the prefervation of that blefftng to which 
life and property are but fecondary confiderations. 

Here pointing at the papers above alluded to, was 
without doubt very proper, as well as abfolutely necef- 
fary ; but without this abrupt beginning, and the allu* 
lion to a particular object before him, it would have 
been erroneous to have made ufe of any action what- 
ever ; for exordiums, in common, ought to be fpoken, 
gently, and without any motion. 

secondly. Never clap your hands. 

You ought never to clap your hands; nor ought 

clergymen 

* The luhole of the American papers, juft then delivered in at the- 
table by Lord Dartmouth, at the tommand of his Majejly, 



t\> 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. *4£ 

elergymm to thump the pulpit, or 3^/ the breafi, for tliefe 
appear too much like the manners of an enthuftaflic 
ranter ; or a mountebank* 

third. Aclion mftly with the right HAS^—In/Jance: 
where the left alone may be ufed. 

[oft of your actions ought to be with the right hand ; 
and whenever you make ufe of the left, let it only be 
to accompany the other, and never lift it up fo 'high as 
the right. To ufe the left hand alone is what you muft 
particularly avoid, excepting when ycu fpea'k of the- 
right hand and the left by name — For inftance — 

The Sovereign Jud£e of the world will make a Separa- 
tion between the good and the bad in the laft day of judg- 
ment, placing the juft on his right band, and the wicked 
on his left. 

Here it is not only allowable, but neceffary to make 
fuch action according to the diftmclion, marking one 
of them with the right hand alone, and the other with 
the left alone. 

rous/TH. To place the ri^ht hand on the brcqjl — If 
left h a v d E D , ho w to manage. 

The right hand is naturally placed on the breqft when- 

the fpeaker talks of himfelf, with refpect to his 

faculties, his fri/Jtons, his heart, Ills fid, his orfcience, 

fee. Sec. — But it muft be done only by laying the hand 

gtritly upon the brcaft, and not violently beat it, as feme 

people do. You muft every where avoid making ufe 

of the left hand alone, with the exceptions we have 

made. — But there arc fome men naturally left handed, 

and cannot forbear u Ping the left hand by itfelf, becaufe 

they have been accufr-med to it from their infancy — In- 

this cafe (although i am perfuaded it is .poffible to get 

of the awkwardnefs by a little patience) I cannot 

advife better, towards concealing the imperfection, if 

the trouble or breaking themfelves 

oi 



46 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

of it, than to let all their aBion be with both hands to- 
gether, for then they will not offend the eye of the 
fpectator with the left hand alone, which can make but 
few motions of itfelf, but what are difagreealle and in- 
elegant in the extreme, 

fifth. Action from the left to the right* 

Your action ought to pafs from the left to the right, 
and generally end to the right, but not in a violent 
manner. — Whenever the fenfe will permit it, (and for 
the mod part it will) lay your hand down with great 
gentlenefs and moderation* 

sixth. When atlion advifable, to begin it when you be* 
gin to fpeai. 
You mull begin your action, when you are to ufe it, 
with your fpeech, and end it with it again ; for it would 
be ridiculous, either to begin your action before you 
had opened your mouth, or to continue it after you had 
done fpeaking, 

seventh. Motion of your hands to fuit the thing fpok* 

en of 
The -movement of y 'our hands mud always anfwer tha 
nature of the thing you fpeak of; which Shakefpeare 
alludes to, when he fays, 

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. 

It would be ridiculous to Jt retch out the arm at full 
length, when you repeat the words " Come in" — or 
bring your ha?id towards you, when you fay, " Go back," 
or clafping your hands together at the words, " Separate 
them" or open your arms at " Clofe it," or hang them 
down, when you mention " Raifing," or hold them up, 
at the words " Caji him down." All thefe would be 
contrary to reafon, and expofe you to the laughter and 
derifion of your hearers. 

eighth. Atlion mujl fuit the figures you male ufe of 

Upon all perturbed parts of your fpeech, the action. 

of 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 4?7 

oT the hands is particularly neceflary to fuit the heat 
aiid pqjffion of the figures you make ufe of. 

ninth.. The hands never, or feldom, higher than the 

EYES. 

When you lift up the hand, it ought feldom, if ever, 
to be raifed higher than the eyes, and not lower than 
the breafl, although there are many who are very 
extravagant in this refpect, clergymen (we mean thofe 
among the Diffenters) in particular, who fometiiries 
raife the hand fo high, as if threatening the heavens, 
and at other times hanging it dangling down over the 
pulpit, as if it were dead- — This is more the method of 
a violent enthufiaft, than a polifhed and dignified de- 
claimed 

Tenth. Tear arms not to be stretched out fide-ways 
from your body, but a certain di/lance. 

You ought not to Jlretch out your arms fideways., 
Farther than half a foot, at moll, from your body, or 
elfe your action will be quite out of your own fight, 
which is wrong, unlefs you turn your head afide to fee' 
it, which would be ridiculous; 

Eleventh. Raise your hand in swearing, exclama- 
tions, &c. 
You mud raife your hand in f wearing, and in excla- 
mations, fo that the aclion may fuit the exprejjion, and 
both of them agree to the nature of the thing. 

twelfth. Not to ufe too much atlion\ 

You mud not make ufe of aclion at every place, for 
although it is true, the hands mould not be idle, Hill 
this does not mean, that they mould be in continual 
motion. This would be below the gravity, character, 
and dignity of a fpeaker, and would reduce him to the 
level of a mimick or thofe performers who play in pan- 
tomimes, and exprefs every thing by antic and apifih 
vefiieulation* 

thirteenth. 



48 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 



thirteenth. Sonic actions not to be attempted by the 
hands*. 

There are feme anions which muft not be attempt- 
ed by the hands, nor muft you try to put yourfelf in 
the pojiure of thofe that make ufe of them — Such as 
fencing, making a bow, prefenting a mufquet, or playing 
upon any muftcal inflrument, &c. &c* 

fourteenth. When you talk for another perfon, 'what 
action to ufe. 

Whenever you make ufe of the figure profopopceia, in 
which you introduce another perfon fpeaking, you 
muft take care not to ufe any action that would be im- 
proper for him to practice, and not agreeable to the 
ftate and condition in which you reprefent him. 

There, are many other things refpecting the action 
of the hands, that might be here fet down, and which 
have been more copioufly mentioned by •thers ; but as 
I intend this treatife merely as a manual for the ftu- 
dent, to contain fuch ufeful hints as may be more im- 
mediately necefTary to him in the practice of fpeaking, 
I fhall here clofe my obfervations on this fubje<5t. 

person. Hovj it ought to be managed* 

Many people keep their bodies in continual motion^ 
fometimes on one fide, fometimes on the other, or elfe 
regularly move backwards and forwards, as if oratory 
confifted in nothing elfe but in perpetual agitation. This 
is fo unmeaning, abfurd, and ungraceful, that every 
fpeaker ought to break himfelf of it, if he find himfelf 
inclined to it. On the other hand, it is as bad to ftand 
immoveable as a ftatue, during the whole time you are 
fpeaking, without any change of pofture whatever, as 
nature and reafon point out the neceflity of fometimes 
making a motion with the body, to correfpond with, 
and give ftrength and vigour to the fentiment. This 
oecafional change of the body is as indifpenfable, to a 
certain degree, as the various changes of a difcourfe, 
and the diflerent inflections of the voice; the whole, 

if 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

ii : appropriately combined, affording the higheft fatif 
taction, and fetting every thing off to admiration. 

the head. Hqw to manage it, 

I 
It is needlefs to fay here what gefiures and figns, what 
innumerable /pints and intimations the head is capable of 
making, as every body is acquainted with them already 
— As in refufing, granting, confirming, admiring, and in 
a thoufand other inftances. A few things, however, 
refpecting its regulation, we think proper particularly 
to mention — Firll, the head ought not to be extrava- 
gantly Jlretched out, as this is a mark of arrogance and 
haughtinefs. — Secondly, it ought not to hang down upon 
the breafi, as, in fo doing, the voice is considerably in- 
jured, being rendered lefs clear, difiincl, and intelligible, 
— Thirdly, it ought not to lean towards the Jlooulder, 
for that fhews a languor and a faint indifference, b\it, on 
the contrary, it ought to be continually kept up, as it 
were, modejlly erecl, a date and pofition that nature re- 
quires. — Fourthly, it is not handfome for the head to 
continue always fixed in one immoveable poflure, as if 
you had no joint in your neck ; nor is it, on the other 
hand, pleafmg, for it conjlantly to be moving, or throw- 
ing itfelf about at every turn of expreflion, an error too 
commonly praclifed — But to avoid both thefe awkward 
extremes, it muft turn foftly and gently upon the neck, if 
the nature of the fentiment permit it — not only to look 
upon thofe that are directly before your eyes in the mil* 
die of an ajfembly, but alfo to cafl a look, now and then, 
upon thofe who are fituated on each fide of you, fome- 
times on the right hand, and fometimes on the left ; 
and after you have done this, to return again to fuch 
an eafy and becoming poflure, as your voice may be heard 
without the fmallefl difficulty by the greateft part of 
your auditors. It muft "be here added, that the head 
ought always to be turned on the fame fide with the 
other aclions of the body, excepting only when they 
are exerted upon things we refufe ; as for inftance , 
when the poet fays, 

I will not take the proffer'd kindnefs— ■ 

E Or 



£0 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

Or upon things we detef and abhor ; as, 

Take him away — He is loathfome to my fight. — h 
Thefe muft be exprefled by an acllo'n of the right hand, 
while the head, at the fame time, is turned to the left. 
Many other examples might be given. 

THE FACE* Hinti ref peeling Its. management when /peaking. 

Of all the parts of the heady it is the face that gives 
the greateft life and beft grace to atllon ; io that great 
care ought to be taken that there is nothing dlfagftea- 
ble and unpleafant in it. — It is the part moil expofed to 
view, as an attentive audience have continually their 
eyes fixed upon it. It is therefore effentially neceflary, 
that, as the regulation of the features is of the higheft 
importance to a Speaker, he fhould carefully attend to 
the proper adjuftment of them in private, before he 
makesia difplay of his powers in public. The fmalleft 
irregularity or imperfection in the face is immediately 
taken notice of by every body, and according to its enor- 
mity your fpeech is proportionably leflened in its effect. 
Jn order to improve yourfelf in this particular, a looking 
glafs may be recommended ; but I am perfuaded that 
.■nothing can be half fo advantageous as the aiTiftance of 
a friend, who will carefully obferve the common mo- 
tions of your countenance, and frankly, and without 
Teferve, inform you of whatever he fees dlfagreeable 
or qffenfive to the eye, fo that you may thereby eafily 
correct it afterwards by yourfelf (and here the glafs 
may be called in to your aid) or in his prefence, if not 
unpleafant to you. Still, however, all the movements 
of the face ought to be adjufted according to the fub- 
ject you treat of, the paflion you would exprefs, or 
make others feel, and the quality of the perfons to 
whom you fpeak. 

the eyes. How to regulate their motion* 

When you are fpeaking, you ought always to be 
eafling your eyes upon fome or other of your auditors, 

antt 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 51 

and rolling them gently about from this fids to that, with: 
an air of regard, fometimes upon one per/on and fome- 
times upon another, and not fix them, as is often the 
cafe, upon one fpot alone. This is a dull and flupid 
habit, and throws a UJUefs Jlupor over your auditory f 
when to look them modefliy and decently in the y#^, as 
is done in familiar and common converfation, would keep 
them alive, and infure their attention to whatever you 
fay. Your whole afpect mould always be pleafant, and 
your looks direct, never fevere or four, unlefs when the 
paffion or fentiment requires it, and then your feelings 
will foou dictate a change. In this cafe your imagina- 
tion throws an expreilion into your eyes that corres- 
ponds with your fenfations, and the pajfions are depict- 
ed in your looks, as foon as your heart is affected. 

Ho<w to draw tears from your own, as well as your audi" 
tor f s eyes. 

Whenever you are affiicted with a violent grief for 
your own misfortunes, or touched with great companion 
for the miferies of another, the tear will flart in your 
eyes. This made the ancient actors apply themfelves, 
with much care and attention, to the acquiring a fac- 
ulty of moving their imaginations ro the power of 
'ujeeping and Jhedding tears in abundance, whenever the 
©ccafion required ; and they fucceeded fo well in this 
particular, and brought it to fuch perfection^ that their 
faces uled to be all over bhn red with crying after they 
came olF the ftage. They accompliihed this by vari- 
ous methods ; but the mod effectual was the following 
i — They contrived to employ their imaginations upon 
fome real private afflictions of their own, that lay very 
much at heart, and not upon the fictions of the play be- 
• jore them. There are many inftances handed down to 
us by hiftorians, of the aftonifhing effects this produc- 
ed. The fpeaker who would wifh to attempt it, ought 
to form within himfelf a very flrong idea of the fubjeti 
of the paffion, and the paffion itfelf will then certainly 
follow of courfe, ferment immediately in the eyes, and 
qffea the fpectators with, the fame tendernefs. Paffwns 

are 



a2 PUBLIC SPEAKING. 

are wonderfully conveyed from one perfon's eyes to 
another's, the tears of the one melting the heart of the 
other, and creating a vifible fympathy between their im- 
aginations and afpecls. 

Of lifting up the eyes, or cajling them down. 

It is plain you mufl regulate this according to the 
nature of the thing fpoken of — For if you /peak of heaven 
and the celejlial powers, you ought, without doubt, to 
lift up your eyes towards heaven ; but if you talk of the 
earth, and terreftrial things, you mufl, of courfe, cajl 
them down upon the ground. You mufl alfo govern 
the eyes according to the pajjions, fo as to cafl them 
down upon things of difgrace and contempt which you 
are afhamed of ; and to raife them upon things of 
honour, which you can talk of with credit and confidence. 
You ought, likewife, more particularly to turn up your 
eyes towards that by which you fwear 9 and to lift the 
hand up in the fame action* 

E v e -B r o w s . . Ho w they Jhould be managed. 

Thefe mould not be, on the one hand, altogether 
immoveable, or too full of motion on the other. You 
mufl not raife them both, as many people do when 
fpeaking of any thing with eagertiefs or anxiety ; nor 
ought you to lift up one and cajl down the other ; but, 
for the mofl part, they ought to remain in the fame 
poflure and equality in whiqfr nature has placed them. — 
However, they are permitted to move fometimes, and it 
. is fit they fhould, when the f>aflions require it — That 
is to fay, to contratl them in forrow ; to fmooth. and di- 
late them in joy ; and to hang them down whenever 
you would wilh to delineate modejly and humility. 

the mouth. How to manage it. 

You mufl: take efpecial care not to let your mouth 
go in the lead awry or uneven, as it is in the highefl 
degree vulgar and difagreeable. Do not project the 
lower lip, as fome people do> but let both of them be- 
nearly 



PUBLIC SPEAKING. 53 

nearly even ; and when you occafionally ftop in your 
ipecch, leave off with the mouth a little open. 

the lips, Not to bite them. 

You ought never to bite your lips, excepting when 
the paiiion demands it ; and even then it is more 
adapted to the actor than the orator. Some perfons 
have a trick of licking them with the tongue, which 
habit is exceedingly Iqio and ill-bred, and becomes more 
the mechanic than the gentleman* 



b 



LASTLY, 



THE SHOULDERS. 



There are many who jlrug up the flioulders almoil 
at every expreilion, which is very unmeaning, or at beft 
has but an appearance of poverty. Hiitorians relate? 
that Demofihenes was addicted to this cuitom, but that 
he got rid of it by ufing himfelf, for a long time, to de- 
claim in a confined place, with a dagger fuipended over 
his Jhoulders, fo that as often as hejhrugged them up the 
point pricked him, and thereby put him in mind of his 
error. By this method, he, at laft, effectually corrected 
himfelf of the habit, 



E-Y 



AN 



ESSAY 



ON THE 



ELOQUENCE OF THE PULPIT 
IN ENGLAND. 



IF terror and pity are the throbbing pulfes of Chrif- 
tian oratory as well as of the drama, the powers of 
the former are certainly in this country feeble and un- 
impreffive. Many fplendid exceptions may be adduced, 
but I allude to the deficiency of general excellence : 
under that confideration, the form of Sacred Eloquence 
appears fickly and inactive, the pulfe at her heart beats 
languidly, no expreflion flafhes from her eye, and her 
pale lip attefts that no feraph has touched it with the 
live coal from off the altar* 

No other excellence can fupply the want of anima- 
tion. " What have the French Revolutionifls," fays 
Mr. Burke, " to fupply their innumerable defects, and 
to make them terrible to the firmeft minds ? One thing 
only ! But that one thing is worth a thoufand — they 
have energy." 

An audience may be affimilated to a tree, that is put 
into motion by the paffing gale : how often the voice 
of a Preacher pafles over this tree, like a languid zephyr, 
without agitating a fmgle leaf ! 

The beauty and propriety of our Liturgy are univer- 
fally acknowledged : the learned Curate of Padding ton 
fays, in his Elucidation, p* 27 : " The Church, in all 

her 






56 ESSAY ON 

her addrefTes to the Deity, has, it may aimoft be laid, 
uniformly fele&ed fuch titles, attributes, and perfec- 
tions, as are moft appropriate to the petitions to which 
they are prefixed, and beft calculated to produce cor- 
refpondent affections." 

I have frequently borne a filent testimony to the 
ffcrong impreffion the prayers of the Liturgy have made 
on the audience. I have frequently obferved an awful 
expecting ftillnefs when the Preacher has afcended the 
pulpit. I have obferved, when every heart was broken 
and harrowed up by contrition, and thus incidentally 
prepared to receive the celeftial feed from the hand of 
the fower, it has been defrauded of that feafonable and 
genial ^nutriment which its fenfibility required. A cold 
inanimated difcourfe (through which reafon drags her 
long chain of argument) fucceeds to the glowing ori- 
fons of the Liturgy : or if the difcourfe takes another 
direction, and affumes fomething of an animated form, 
yet then that form is powerlefs ; it bears the femblance 
of merit without the effect, and ftands in the order of 
oratorical excellence, as the mow-drop in the clafiof 
flowers, which appears, 



w As Flora's breath, by fome transforming power 3 
Had chang'd an icicle into a flower ; 
Its name and hue the fcentlefs plant retains, 
And winter lingers in its icy veins.'* 

See Mrs. Barb au id's Poems.- 



That languor whkh adheres to facrcd oratory, does 
tiot arife from the abfence of abilities. Literature is 
under the higheft obligation to the actual labours of 
the Englifh Clergy. Biblical inveftigation is unwea- 
riedly urging her fublime purfuit. The hallowed fhield 
of Truth is invincibly held up againft the arm of Infi- 
delity ; and productions of every kind are continually 
promoting the caufe of Morality. The many iingle 
fermons or difcourfes colleded into a volume, which 
are daily ifTuing from the prefs, though not glowing 

with 



ELOQUENCE. 57 

with that characteriftic energy required from a Chrif- 
tian orator, contain a confiderable portion of facred 
learning elegantly difplayed ; fo that the clerical mind 
may be faid, with the flricteft propriety, to be highly 
cultivated, and ufefully exerted. 

As I wifh to addrefs this difcourfe to the younger 
part of the Clergy, I fhould advife them not to adhere 
to the prefent adopted mode of preaching. Petlus eft 
quod defortos facit. They fhould dive into the receffes 
of their own bofom, and explore the latent energy of 
foul, form an acquaintance with their own peculiar 
powers, and mark the bent and tendency of their rifmg 
talents. " Knowledge," fays- Cudworth, in his Trea- 
tife on Immutable Morality, " is not to be poured into 
the foul like liquor, but rather to be invited and gently 
drawn forth from it ; nor the mind fo much to be fill- 
ed therewith from without like a veffel, as to be kindled 
and awakened. Hence is that Grange parturiency, that 
is often obferved in the mind, when it is lelicitoufly fet 
upon the inveftigation of fome truth, whereby it doth 
endeavour, by ruminating and revolving within itfelf, 
as it were to conceive it within itfelf, to bring it forth 
out of its own womb ; by which it is evident that the 
mind is naturally confeious of its own active fecundi- 
ty." 

It is faid, that when Shakefpeare was born, Nature 
deftroyed the mould in which his great mind was form- 
ed. Without lofmg fight of thefe fplendid excep- 
tions to which I before alluded, I cannot help wifhing 
that fome fuperior genius would break the general 
mould in which religious difcourfes are call. To 
borrow an illustration from fculpture, an Englifh fer- 
Tnon may be faid to be compared to the ftatue of a 
correct but unimpaflioned artift :* the form difplays an 
apt proportion of parts ; but no foul warms, awakens, 
infpirits the dead marble. The fubject of an Englifh 
fermon is often admirably well conducted, and ingeni- 
oufly expanded ; the formation is accurate, but fome- 

thing 

* See RoufTeau's Pygmalion^ 



58 ESSAY ON 

thing is ftill wanting : I cannot better elucidate my 
meaning, than by thefe lines from Dryden : 

Still the warm fun its cheering power withheld, 
Nor added colours to the world reveaVd. 

I beg I may not be underftood that I am recom- 
mending to the Preacher to effufe a gaudy colouring 
over his compofition. The celeflial form of Religion 
does not require the flowing robe of Oflentation, nor 
is it to be viewed as through a priim. A Chriftian au- 
dience is not to be arnufed with the tricks of oratory, 
nor is the fpiritual food which the audience demands 
at the hands of their paftors to be fupplied with the 
flowers of rhetoric. The pallors, fays Bilhop Taylor 
(in his fermon on the Duty of Minifters), " are not to 
feed the people with gay tulips and ufelefs daffodils, 
but with the bread of life, and medicinal plants, fpring- 
ing from the margin of the Fountain of Salvation." 

I fhall referve for another opportunity fome obferva- 
ticns on the fermons that have appeared in the courfe 
of the laft ten years ; in which I have attempted to 
fhow, that however many of them may be eileemed 
beautiful moral effays, they are devoid of that evangelic 
and paftoral unfiion^ which the pulpit demands : that 
they are not calculated to reach the affections, nor, in 
correfpondence with the object in view, either to dif- 
turb, terrify, foften, encourage, or confole. They con- 
tain no communicative fenfibility, and have nothing 
that is glowing, feraphic, or incentive. If any author- 
ity were requifite to corroborate my opinion on this 
fabject, I find the fentiments of Bilhop Warburton in 
perfect confonance with mine : in his Directions for 
the Study of Theology he has thefe words : " A pa- 
thetic addrefs to the paffions and affections of penitent 
hearers, perhaps the moll operative of all the various 
fpecies of inftruction, is that in which the Englilh pul- 
pit is mod defective." 

Nothing would fooner raife the depreffed genius of 
Religion, fays the author of the Chinefe Fragment, 

" than. 



ELOQUENCE. 59 

u than the recovery of our Preachers fom that reafoning 
malady which has fo generally infected them." 

If the Divine Promulgator of the Gofpel called his 
Apoftles the rimers of mankind, is it not to be prefumed 
they were to endeavour to arrefl their audience in the 
melhes of their eloquence, in order to draw them to the 
full influence of their exhortation ? 

Our late eminent Actor, difcriminating between a 
Preacher and an Actor, faid to Bifhop Lyttleton, " We 
fpeak of fictions as if they were realities, and you fpeak 
of realities as if they were fictions." 

If we do not hear of complaints relative to the cleri- 
cal chair, Hume, in his E flays, tells us the reafon : " We 
fatisfied with our mediocrity, becaufe we have had no 
experience of any thing better." 

" I am perfuaded," fays Gray in a letter to Mafon, 
u that chopping logic in the pulpit, as our divines have 
done ever iince the Revolution, is not the thing ; but 
that imagination and warmth of expreilion are in their 
place there as much as on the ftage, moderated, howev- 
er, and chaftifed a little by the purity and fevcrity of Re- 
ligion." (4to edition, 278.) 

It would be an invidious tafk to draw a comparifon 
between the regal ftate of Chriftian oratory at the com- 
mencement of the fourth century, and its meagre im- 
poverifhed exiilence in the prefent day. Gregory Naz- 
ianzen, in his celebrated valedictory fermon, relates inci- 
dentally, rather than defignedly, the triumphs of his own 
eloquence ; which eloquence, however, was not pecu- 
liar to him, but difplayed the general character of ora- 
tory at that period. The venerable Prelate having ob- 
tained permiflion to refign his fee, afcended the pulpit 
for the laft time, and took his leave of his audience in 
expreflions flowing from an exuberant fenfibility. 

" Thou great and auguft temple, farewell ! Fare- 
well Apoftles, ye leaders of my conflicts and my fuffer- 
Ings ; thou dangerous and envied pre-eminence, epif- 
copal throne, farewell ! — Farewell, ye widows and or- 
phan^ ! Eyes of the poor, invariably directed to the 

preacher, 



60 ESSAY ON 

preacher, farewell ! Ye innumerable frequenters of my 
homilies ! ye fwift-handed notaries ! ye rails preffed by 
my greedy auditors ! farewell, farewell !" 

The apoftrophe the abdicating orator addreffes to the 
bufy notaries, to the eyes of the poor, to the rails that 
were preffed by the innumerable throng, and the ex- 
preffion of the greedy auditors ,• demonftratively afcer- 
tain the brilliant powers of eloquence, when they were 
exercifed by a Gregory Nazianzen, a Bafil, or a Chryf- 
oftom. 

Preaching is the moil noble employment of reafon. — 
When our great epic poet extols the excellence of his 
divine art, he affimilates her to facred eloquence : " Po- 
etic abilities/ ' he fays, "are of power, befides the office of 
the pulpit, to inbreed and cherifh in a great people, the 
feeds of virtue and public civility, to allay the pertur- 
bations of the mind, to fet the affections in right tune, and 
to celebrate, in glorious and lofty hymns, the throne 
and equipage of God's Almightinefs."* 

Impreffed with the dignity of his office, the young 
Preacher fhould bring to his tafk abofom penetrated with 
the awful truth he is going to unfold : it is the beft 
method of deepening the effect upon an audience. Crafh- 
aw fays, in his quaint, but expreffive manner, the wound- 
ed is the wounding heart. 

We read in the hiftory of the Roman Drama, that 
Polus, a celebrated Actor, relinquifhed the ft age for a 
confiderable time, from the melancholy occurrence of 
lofmg an only child. Being at length perfuaded to re- 
fume his profeflion, in order to engrave ftill deeper on 
his foul the tragic fcene of Electra, which he was called 
upon to exhibit, he hurried to the tomb of his beloved 
fon, and with an holy violation bore away the urn that 
enclofed the endeared afhes ! and when he held up this 
real object of domeftic affliction for the urn of Oreftes, 
he was fo vehemently affected, that nature broke out 
into tones the moil impaffioned, and the moil expreffive 
of grief, while the whole theatre felt a correfpond- 

ent 

* See that valuable work, the Life of Milton, by Mr. Hay ley j 
from whence this extract is taken. 



ELOQUENCE. 61 

ent emotion, and echoed the moans of die furrow-wound- 
ed parent. 

The Minifter of the Gofpel has no cccafion to have 
recourfe to fuch fHmulatives ; the objects of his difcuf- 
fion preis equally upon him as upon his audience. 
Eternity ! heaven ! hell ! death ! thefe are themes 
which caft around an awful and univerfal intereft. The 
Preacher may be compared in fome refpect to the pilot 
in a ftorm, who lhares the peril with the paffengers. 
The parliamentary orator delivers his fentiments with 
animating warmth, under the conviction that he is plead- 
ing the facred caufe of his country ; and can the advo 
cate, pleading the caufe of eternity, the celeftial patriot, 
perform his awful tafk with apathy ? 

Let the young Ecclefiaftic, while he ftaads on the 
threfhold of the fanctuary, undergo a felf-examination : 
if the filent but heart-felt invitation, if the lonely whif- 
pering voice of predilection, do not prompt him to af- 
cend the feat of the preacher ; if an enthufiaftic ardour 
does not elevate him when he is commenting upon the 
facred text ; if he carries to his holy tafk, a fupine re* 
luctance ; lie may reft affured, that eloquent Nature has 
not predefined him to occupy a place among the fmall 
number of her elect ; that lhe has not kindled for him 
the facred rlame ; and that to him thefe words of Dante 
may be applied : 

A cui natura, 
Non fcaldo ferro mai, ne batte atocude. 

But, if the clerical ftudent is confeious that Nature 
has imprinted on his mind a peculiar bias ; if, amidft 
die claims of active life, fhe urges his power to one 
peculiar aim ; if, deeply alfected with the beauties of 
profane eloquence, lie glows with an enthufiafm till 
then unknown at the energy of facred oratory ; if an 
emulative fire kindles in his breail at the recollection 
of our church worthies, the fpiritual founders, and the 
fucceilive propagators of the eftablifhment, thofe im- 
moveable columns, which upheld amidft the burfting 
F tempeft 



62 ESSAY ON 

temped the facred roof! if, ftealing from the haunts 
of man, he invocates the Koly Spirit to defcend from 
above, exuberant of grace, and rich in his fevenfold 
energy ; if the facred fountain of tears lodged in the 
recedes of the foul, is ready, at Nature's call, to over- 
flow with affectionate effuiion : thefe indications tef- 
tify t&at he is defignated by Religion to the ornce of 
the fublimed import, the difpenfation of her holy 
word. 

As the fire from Heaven, which in Leviticus con- 
fumed the burnt offering, and which was ever after 
preferved from extinction by the means of common ma- 
terials ; fo the flame of genius, which defcends from/ 
Heaven to the human bread, mud: be kept alive by hu- 
man afliduity : it mud be fed from the treafury of learn- 
ing, and enriched by the deductions of an obferving 
mind. But the Preacher mud not be fadidioufly fo- 
licitous or elaborately nice in the arrangement of periods, 
and in the marihalling of his words. Milton, the great 
mader of expreflion, fays, " True eloquence I find to be 
none but the ferious and hearty love of truth : and that 
whofe mind foever is fully poffeffed with a fervent defire 
to know good things, and with the d eared charity to 
infufe the knowledge of them into others ; when fuch 
a man would fpeak, his words, like fo many nimble and 
airy fervitors, trip about him at command, and in well- 
ordered files, as he would wiih, fall aptly into their own 
places." 

This paffage, however, from Milton, .mud not be 
adopted without fome qualification ; for, unlefs the 
Preacher pays fome attention to the charm of numer- 
ous compofition, to the mufic of verbal harmony, to the 
felection of graceful metaphors, he will render himfelt 
liable to the fame ftrictures which the elegant Melmoth 
pafles on Archbifhcp Tillotibn : " The words of that 
prelate are frequently ill'-chofen, and almod alwa s 
ill-placed ; his periods are both tedious and unharmo- 
nious, and his metaphors are generally mean and ridic- 
ulous." 

South, in a note to one of his Sermons, thus animad- 
verts 



ELOQUENCE. 03 

verts upon an expreflion of Tillotfon : " See a late fig- 
nai inftance of Providence in a Prince who had his fooulder 
fo kindly Itffed by a cannon bullet — as the late Arch-bifhop 
bv a peculiar ftrain of rhetoric, expreffes this wonderful 
efcape in his Sermon at Court — for well indeed might 
it pais for wonderful; the falutes from the mouth of a 
cannon being commonly fo boiilerous that they feldom 
kifs but they kill too." VoL iii. p. 570. 

The Chriflian Orator muft direct a peculiar attention 
to the Bible : St. Jerome, no incompetent judge of this 
fubje&, recommends to the priefthood the perufal of 
the facred page in thefe energetic words : — " Tenentem 
Tacros codices fomnus cirspat, ef cadaiicm fac\cm pagina Jantla 
fufciptat." 

The Scripture is the heaven, from which the Preach- 
er is to (leal the Promethean heat which is to animate 
his composition^ The Scripture is the herbal, or rather 
the ftorehoufe of plants and flowers, from whence the 
fpiritual phyucian gathers the medical herbs of power 
to footh the difeafed mind, and difperfe that perilous 
fluff that weighs upon the guilty bread.' The Scrip- 
ture is the arfenal from which are drawn thofe dread 
materials that form the thunder which the Prophets, 
the primitive preachers, wielded over an unrepenting 
world. 

The many texts which will prefent themfelves to the 
biblical Student as candidates for his choice, mould be 
previoufly examined before he makes his felection. He 
ihould foar on the wings of contemplation, and hover 
over the facred ground, till, difcoverirtg a text that for- 
cibly attracts him, he mould feize it, as the defcending 
eagle rufhes on his prey. 

" The Subject of the difcourfe," fays Dr. Langhorn, 
" may fometimes preach more effectually than the dif- 
courfe itfelf; arifing either frcm the energy and brev- 
ity of the expreiiion, or from adapting it with an ob- 
vious propriety to fome temporary cccafion. When 
the fate of Aaron's two fons was pronounced, the fa- 
cred writer gives us this Short and finking defcription : 
Aaron had his peace. What expreflien ! Would not 

this. 



** ESSAY ON 

tins be a moil proper text, for the fubjecr of religious 
refignation ? And would not the text itfelf plead more 
emphatically than the moft laboured fermon ?* 

^ If hiftcry (as it has been afferted) is philofophy re- 
alized, hiftorical preaching is truth exemplified/ What 
are words to things ? What was the harangue of An- 
tony to his producing the body of Ccefar ? Now a ftory 
realizes a difcourfe, and brings, as it were, the body of 
Csefar to our view. 

In St. James's Church, on the 7th of March, 1800, 
I heard a fubjecl of this nature treated in the moft lu- 
minous and happy manner : the fubjeet of the hiftoric 
difcourfe was the decollation of St. John the Baptift. 
The eloquent Prelatef drew with a mafterly hand, the 
characters of all the perfonages concerned in that dra- 
ma. The glowing zeal and undaunted courage of the 
Baptift, the vindictive fpirit that reigned in the bofom 
•f Herodias, were difplayed in the moft ftriking point 
©f view. In the delineation of the character of the 
young woman, companion foftened the ftrain of the 
Orator.; the timid nature of the daughter was vividly 
contrafted with the imperious command of the mother, 
and with a lenient hand he flung over the part the 
daughter acted in this tragedy, the veil of filial obedi- 
ence. But on Herod, the facred Orator poured the full 
torrent of his indignant zeal, and pointed out, in the | 
moft convincing, energetic language, that his adulterous j 
intercourfe with Herodias was the caufe, at firft imper- | 
ceptible, that led him from ftep to ftep to the complc- ; 
tion of the crime of murder. He then noticed the fre- 
quency of divorces, which indicated an alarming diiTo- 
lution of manners, and which he awfully reprefented as 
fufheient to awaken the divine forbearance, and call 
down the vengeance of Heaven on this country. 

There are many ftories in the facred writings pi 
nant with the moft interefting morality. There are 
a!fo to be found in ecclefiaftical hiftcry, fubjects ; 

might 

* See a little tra<&, entitled, Letters on the Eloquence of Ac PuIpiR 
f Dr. Porteus, Bifhop of London, 



ELOQUENCE. 65 

might be adopted by the Chriftian Orator. The ftory 
of the forty martyrs of Sebafte occurs to me as a fubject 
that would happily illuftrate a difcourfe that treated up- 
on the necefTity of perfeverance ; the " unexpected defer- 
tion of one of the holy band, if properly commented up- 
on, would exhibit a terrifying example. I beg leave to 
recommend this fubject to the Morning Preacher at 
Spring garden Chapel, a gentleman who poffeffes fupe- 
rior talents for the pulpit.* 

Thefe illuftrious ibldiers fufferad for their faith in 
the LefTer Armenia, under the Emperor Lucinus, in 
S20 ; they belonged to the fame company, and w^ere 
enlifted into the Thundering Legion : AgriGola, the 
governor of the province, having publifhed an order 
directing the army to facrince to the pagan deities, for- 
ty Chriftian ibldiers reprefented their peculiar fituation, 
and refufed to join their comrad.es in the act of facri- 
fice : this refufal irritated the governor, to whofe 
menaces they returned this heroic anfwer : — That his 
power did net extend to their will, it only extended to 
the infliction of corporeal pain, which they had learned 
to defpife when they became foldiers. The governor, 
highly incenied at their courage, deviled an extraordi- 
nary kind of death. Under the walls of the town was 
a river, which was frozen. Agricola ordered the pro- 
tefting foldiers to be expofed naked on the ice ; a 
warm bath was prepared at a fmall diftance for any 
who mould relent. They readily confented to under- 
go the fevere trial ; and having for a confiderable time 
endured the thrilling agony of the freezing air, one 
unhappy fufFerer relented. While the gates of heaven 
were juft opening to his view, while the hands of an«> 
gels were preparing his crown of victory, and faints ex- 
pecting his afcended fpirit, the wretched apellate rofe 
from his icy couch, crawled to the feductive bath, and, 
ftooping into the warm emollient water, expired. 

Profane hiftcry prefents many inltances of illuflra- 
tive companion, between the impure, complicated, 

hero- 

* The Rev. Mr. Beviile, Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Man 
chefter. 

F2 



66 fc ESSAY ON 

Tiero-worfhip of the Pagan ritual, and the immaculate 
fimplicity of the Chriftian altar. A linking inftance oc- 
curs in Sejanus, who fometimes ftrewed incenfe on the 
altar erected to his own memory, and thus at once be- 
came the impious facrificer and the profane deity. 

There are fome auflere duties, fome unaccommo- 
dating truths, which no attire of compofition can foften. 
Thefe repulfive obligations may be enforced by illuf- 
tration. The advantage of misfortune is exemplified 
and pleafmgly conveyed to the mind by the following 
anecdote. 

An Englifh officer being taken prifoner by the French 
Indians, became the flave of an old Indian chief, who 
treated him with humanity. One day the chieftain took 
the officer into a retirecj. part of a foreft, and addreffed 
him in thefe words ; 

" Since you have been my captive, you muft acknowl- 
edge that I have treated you with kindnefs : I have 
taught you to form the fwift canoe, to chafe die boar, 
to prepare the beaver's ikin, and to fpeed the fhaft. Tell 
xne, is your father living ?" — " He was alive," the offi- 
cer replied, " when I left my country. " The chief 
returned, " I was a father once : thy Iofs, oh valiant 
ion ! like the arrow that put an end to thy exiftence, 
drinks the blood that warms my heart. No joy, no 
comfort have I known, fince I have felt the abfence of 
him whom I loved with fuch an affection. Behold that 
fun ! how bright it fhines to you ! Since that fad day it 
looks to me a cloud ! How cheerfully yonder rofes meet 
your eye 1 To me they feem devoid of every charm. 
Go, youthful ftranger, to your father ; go, wipe from 
his furrowed eheek the ftream of parental ferrow : go, 
bid the fun difplay to him all its fplendcur • and bid the 
rofe in all her bloom appear ! v 

Anecdotes of Leierature, vol. v. 

This historical incident will naturally lead the 
preacher to obferve, that the misfortune of lofmg his 
ion had foftened the bofom of the Indian chief, and 
difciplined it to this act of benevolence, which no doubt 
would be rewarded at the throne of grace. 

Befides 



ELOQUENCE. 67 

Befides the method of conveying inftruction through 
the channel of hiftoiy, there are circumflances feeming- 
\y unimportant, which, if feized with addrefs, will fug- 
geft to the Preacher a new and unexpected train of 
ideas. A Preacher fome years ago, in France, who had 
acquired a confiderable (hare of renown among the vil- 
lagers at a great diftance from the capital, came to Pa- 
ris on fome private bufinefs, without any intention of 
difplaying his oratorical talents : but fo great was the 
curiofity of the Parifians to hear the ruftic orator, that 
importunities poured in upon him from every quarter. 
He was at length prevailed upon to comply with the 
univerfal requeft. The church of St. Sulpitius was 
chofen for the purpofe. The parifh of St. Sulpitius is 
one of the moft extenfive in Paris, and was inhabited 
chiefly by perfons of the higheft diftinction and emi- 
nence. Never did a more fplendid audience prefent it- 
felf to the eye of a preacher. The Abbe Bridaine 
found himfelf encircled with biihops, cardinals, princes,, 
minifters, united with all the female elegance of Paris. 
Surpriied, but not intimidated, he feized the local inci- 
dent arifing from' the contrail of the actual to his own 
accuftomed audience, to ulhcr in the following impreffive. 
exordium : 

" Difufed to fo brilliant a congregation, I ought to 
intreat your indulgence towards a poor country curate,, 
who is deftitute of thole elegant talents whieh the Pa- 
rifians require of the Miniller of the Gofpel. I am, 
however, confeious of a very different fenfation from 
that of fear ; and if I feel myfelf impreffed at this mo- 
ment with humility, do not imagine that it arifes from 
the wretched difquietude of vanity. God forbid that 
a Minifler of his Gofpel fhould (land in need of an 
apology when he comes before you to difpenfe the 
words of life. Although you may boalt of ever fo ex- 
alted a rank, you are not greater in the eye «f Heaven 
than I am ; and every perfon in this audience is what I 
am, a fmner. It has been till this day my lot to announce 
the word of God in churches whofe thatched roofs can- 
opy an humble train. Wretch that I am ! I have urged 

the 



6B ESSAY ON 

the rigours of penance to thofe who had not bread to 
offer to their famifhed children. I have enforced the: 
moft tremendous truths of our religion upon the inno- 
cent inhabitant of the cottage. I have carried difmay 
and affliction into the bofom of thofe whom I fhould 
rather have pitied and confoled. From the place I now 
occupy, wherever I direct my eyes, I behold only the 
rich, the great, the fortunate ; perhaps I behold the op- 
preffors of fuffering humanity ; at leaft, I may with 
truth affirm, that I behold audacious and habitual fin- 
ners ! Ah, it is here the impaffioned Preacher may 
roll the thunder of the Gofpel ! It is here, as through 
a buriling cloud, he may pour the tempefl of his indig- 
nation. — 

".The certainty of death, the uncertainty of the hour, 
the fmall number of the eleel, the laft judgment, hell, 
and, above all, eternity ! eternity ! thefe are the fub~ 
jects I mail this day unfold to your trembling view, 
and which I now lament I had not referved for you, 
alone. I do not court your applaufe ; for the applaufe 
given to the Preacher does not infure the falvation of 
the hearer. May God touch your hardened hearts ! I 
have acquired a long experience of his mercy ; and 
fhould remorfe harrow up your foul, you will then ac» 
knowledge that I am fufficiently eloquent." 

A local occurrence will fometimes claim the notice of 
a Chriftian Oratcr. Dr. Langhorn inferted in a Poem, 
entitled The Country Juftlce^ an event which had happen- 
ed in his neighbourhood. He had forefeen the effect it 
would have on the poetical reader by the warm inter- 
eft it obtained among his rural auditors when he deliv- 
ered the pathetic ftory from the pulpit. It is a tragic- 
al incident belonging to the fimple annals of the village ; 
and although it carries with it a collateral rather than 
a direct moral tendency, the feeling Pallor was induced 
to weave it into his difcourfe for the purpofe of exciting 
a refentment at the unmerciful difpenfaticn of power 
which is fometimes exercifed by churchwardens. 

The narrative, diverted of its poetical ornaments, 
yet retaining all its intereft, runs thus : — An indigent; 

and 



ELOQUENCE. 69 

and rirtuous young married woman, who lived at a 
considerable diftance from her own pariih, was return- 
ing home : (he had pa/Ted through the toil of a long 
day's journey on foot, and in the evening reached a 
village that was three miles dill ant from' her own* Ex- 
hauited with fatigue, and fainting with third, me trail- 
ed that fome charitable peribn would allow her a little 
ftraw upon which fhe might repofe her weary limbs, 
and (he begged for a cup of beer to moiften her parch- 
ed lips. That boon,- -indeed, was not denied her ; but 
the frern overfeer, perceiving the advanced flate of her 
pregnancy, hurried her away from the village, without 
permitting her to partake of any other refreihment ; 
and having conducted her beyond the limits of the par- 
ifh, he inhumanly left her on a naked heath. The pangs 
of childbirth focn afiailed her ; fhe was delivered of 
her infant and expired. At that moment a highway- 
man, who had juil committed a robbery, was hailening 
ever the heath, and riding clofe to the very fpot, he faw 
a woman who appeared dead, with a naked babe at her 
bofom. Forgetting his own perilous fituation, the gen- 
erous robber alighted from his horfe, carried the naked 
infant to a cottage, and diftributed yjart of his booty to 
the woman who received the child. Every heart muft 
throb with a wifh for the humane robber's efcape ; but 
heaven ordained it otherwife : the pity that delayed nrs 
flight was the caufe of his being taken. The fingularity 
of his cafe not being accurately conveyed to the merciful 
ear of the king, he underwent the full rigour of his fen- 
tencc ; while the unrelenting overfeer ftill prdicles m his 
hamlet, the terror of the poor 5 and bears, to ufe tifee 
ckrfbig words of the poem, 

Weekly to church his beck cf wicked prayers. 

There are fituations of danger and alarm,, that will 
call forth the moil powerful exertions of the Orator. 
James Saurin, the celebrated Preacher at the Hague, 
introduced into hie difecurfe the ftate of the exiled 

Proteftants 



70 ESSAY ON 

Proteftants hi the moft bold and original manner. The 
fermon was preached at the opening of the campaign 
1 706, on the fafl-day. The annals of religion never, 
perhaps, prefented to the view of a Ch.rift.ian orator a 
more interefting fcene. The promifcuo#s crowd that 
thronged the church, was compofed of the army, 
and of their neareft connections and relations, for whole 
fafety they were going to expofe, their lives. No finif- 
ter views, no thought of aggrandifement, no commercial 
advantages/ mingled with the purity of that conteft in 
which they were engaged : nature, fecurity, dome (lie 
happinefs, called them to the ftrife, while Religion flood 
on the pedeftal of Ambition, 

The Preacher took his text from the fixth chapter of 
the Prophet Micah ; 

" * Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controverfy, and 
6 ye ftrong foundations of the earth ; for the Lord 
'hath a controverfy with his people, and he will plead 

* with Ifrael. O my people, what have I done unto 

* thee, teftify againft me.' 

" This aftonifhing fcenic reprefentation, my brethren, 
of the Creator entering into a contending dialogue with 
the creature, is what I fhall this day hold up to your 
view, in order that you may enter into thofe fentiments 
of compunction which the folemnity of this day re- 
quires. The arm of God is extended over our heads : 
fhall I fay for the purpofe of defence Qr of deftruction ? 
Oh ! let me conjure you, by the walls of this temple 
which ftill fubfift, by the charm of conjugal affec- 
tion, by the love you hear your children, by the unfhaken 
fidelity you owe to your religion, in the name of our 
fovereigns, our commanders, our foldiers ; by all thefe 
facred titles to your attention, may my voice this day 
have.accefs ,to the -. inmo.ft. receiles of your hearts! Ye 
worldly diftractions ! Ye terreftrial cares ! Ye birds, ye 
harpies that difturb our facrifice, vanifh from our mind 
this day, and leave us with God alone. 

" ' Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controverfy, 
f and ye ftrong foundations of the earth : for the Lord 

'hath 



ELOQUENCE- 71 

* hath a controverfy with his people, and he will plead 
■ with Ifrael.' 

" As I conllder this text as immediately connected 
with your prefent unfortunate fituation, you may be al- 
lowed to pour out your complaints, and proclaim before 
the face of heaven and earth the calamities with which 
you are afflicted. 

" ' O my people, what have I done unto .thee I 9 

" -Lord, thou haft done many things unto us ! Ye 
folitary paths that lead to the gates of Jerufalem ! ye 
dejected facrificers ! ye weeping virgins ! ye fanctua- 
ries levelled with the duft ! deferts peopled with holy 
fugitives ! members of Jems Chrift wandering upon 
the face of the earth ! ye children torn from the arms 
of your parents ! imprifoning caverns gorged with con- 
feffors ! forms of deceafed martyrs denied the afylum 
of the grave, and expofed to the mangling talons of vo- 
racious birds ! ye fallen temples ! duft ! afhes ! facred 
ruins ! ye flames ! ye torturing wheels ! and fcaffolds ! 
oh reply, and bear your teftimony againft the Eternal. 

" But\,if we take God for our judge, mail we not 
find motives fufficient to juftify the calamities with 
which we are now afflicted ? The habitual contempt 
of his word, the abortive warning of his paftors, an in- 
ordinate attachment to the world, the many vices that 
preceded the misfortunes we now lament, ihould make 
us fmite our bofom, and cry out, in the words of the 
prophet, The Eternal is juft, for we have rebelled 
againft him." 

Ecclefiaftical hiftory informs us of a mod happy lo.- 
cal incident, ©f which the great Chryfoftom failed not 
to avail himfelf. Eutrcpius, a man of the lcweft ex- 
traction, had, by the means of a fmooth infmuating 
manner, gained an afcendant over the mind of the Em- 
peror Arcadius, who having previoufly raifed him to 
offices of emolument and power, had elevated him to 
the dignity of conful. Invefted with authority, he op- 
preifed the people, and perfecuted the cbtireh. Among 
the feveral rigorous laws and provocations that eman- 
ated from his adminiftration, the edict that fupprefled 

the 



n ESSAY ON 

the privilege of fancluary gave coniiderable offence. 
The undaunted Chryfoftom ftood forth upon all occa- 
fions to oppofe the innovating fpirit of the minifter. At 
length the people, uniting with the army, loudly de- 
manded his difmiffion. The emperor, who had already 
expreffed his indignation at his conduct, ordered him 
to retire from court, with an injun&ion never to re- 
turn. Abandoned by the emperor, and expofed to 
public refentment, the wretched Eutropius fled to the 
altar for that privilege he had denied to others. The 
emperor fent a detachment of his guards to force him 
from his afylum. But the generous interpofition of 
Chryfoftom prevailed upon the commanding officer to 
fufpend his orders till he obtained leave from the em- 
peror for Eutropius to partake of the privilege of 
fancluary. The next day being a great feftival, an un- 
ufual eoncourfe of people thronged to the church to 
behold that perfon reduced to fo humiliating a ftate, 
whofe deportment in the hour of profperity had been 
haughty, imperious, and oppreflive. The tumultuous 
noife which firft prevailed having fubfided into an aw- 
ful filence, Chryfoftom pronounced the following dif- 
courfe : 

" < Vanity of vanities ; and all is vanity.* 
" If ever there was a time more adapted than anoth- 
er for the application of thefe emphatic words, it is 
moft affuredly the prefent moment. Where is the 
fplendour that environed the conful ? where are the 
honours, where are the imperial diftm&ions that at- 
tended him ? are the feftive hours of his repafts 
to return no more ? are the days of his rejoicing 
departed ? where arc his chorifters ? where are his 
muficians ? has a mournful filence fucceeded to the 
applaufe of the circus ? to the loud acclamations of in- 
numerable fpe&atcrs ? a fudden blaft has withered the 
lofty tree, defpoiled it of all its leaves and flowing 
honours, and paliled the naked branches. Where is 
now your late conccuife of fummer frier* ds ? where is 
the lengthening proccffion of your parafites I The fe- 
licity you enjoyed has paiTed away as the dream- that 

vanifhes 



ELOQUENCE. 73 

vanifhe's at the dawn of day : it has paffed away like 
the beauty of the vernal flower ; it has paifed away like 
an airy vapour before the fun ; it has paifed away like 
a cloud of dull that is fcattered by the wind. i Vanity 
of vanities — all is vanity !' Thefe emphatic words 
fhould be proclaimed in all public places ; they fhould 
be infcribed upon the walls of every manfion ; they 
fhould be imprinted on our garments ; but they Ihould 
be principally engraved upon our hearts. 

" How repeatedly have I laid to you, Eutropius, 
that riches are fugitive flaves ! experience now informs 
you that they are homicides, fmce they are the authors 
of that impending danger which threatens your exift- 
ence. And to avoid being involved in the fame ca- 
lamity, your parafite companions and adulators, and 
they who experienced the beneficial part of your pow- 
er, behold ! they have all abandoned you ; while we 
obferve a conduct of a different tendency : we who, in 
the day of your profperity, patiently endured the pref- 
ure of your tyranny, in the day of your misfortune 
protect you with all our authority. The holy religion 
you have infulted and oppreffed offers you an afylum, 
receives you into her arms, and holds you to her bofom. 
I do not ufe this language by way of exulting over 
the enemy, who is grovelling in the dull, but to ftrength- 
en thofe who fland ; not to inflame the wound that 
now is bleeding, but to flimulate the attention of thofe 
"who have yet received no wound ; not to plunge into 
the roaring waves the man who is fhipwrecked, but to 
inflruct thofe who fail with profperous winds to efcape 
from being expofed to the fame calamity. 

" There is little occafion for the parade of words, 
when the prefence of the difgraced fugitive fo forcibly 
defcribes his misfortune. Moil of you affiiled yefler- 
■day at the flrange fpeclacle exhibited in this temple ; 
you beheld when the Imperial guards came to arrefi 
the fallen minifter, how eagerly he flew to yon fan&u- 
ary, and embraced the facred vafes ! a deathlike pale- 
nefs was diffufed over his countenance, a chilling ter- 
ror convulfed his frame j his voice burft out at inter- 
G vals 



74' ESSAY ON 

vals into broken accents. 1 1 fay not this for the pur* 
pofe of adding to the rnafs of his misfortune, but to 
quicken your fenfibility, and induce your compaffion to 
entertain the benevolent idea, that his punifhment has 
already tranfcended his crime. Ts there any perfon pref- 
«nt who inwardly reproaches me for holding out a pro- 
tecting hand to that unhappy criminal ? Does it appear 
inconfiftent, that he mould find fecurity in that temple, 
whofe facred worfhip he was ambitious to annihilate i 
Rather think with me that it redounds to the glory of 
God, that fa formidable an enemy mould be compelled 
to acknowledge the power and the forbearance of the 
Church ! This venerable matron, like a tender mother, 
covers him with her garment from the indignation of 
the emperor, and the vehemence of public hatred. A 
clemency of this diftinguifhed nature reflects an addi- 
tional iuftre on that blazing altar. To thefe eyes nev- 
er did yon altar appear more refplendent or more tre- 
mendous than at this moment, when I behold that lion 
trembling at its feet." 

Nicholas Prevoit, a French preacher in the begin- 
ning of the eighteenth century, introduced the follow- 
ing obfervation through the medium of a local circum- 
ftance. It is in his funeral oration upon the Duke of 
Berri, pronounced at St. Dennis (near Paris), where the 
royal family are interred. 

" Illuftrious progeny of the Bourbons ! ye worthy 
defcendants of the Condes ! behold how the fplendour 
which furrounds your birth is finally to be darkened. 
This temple may be faid to be ftrewed with the allies of 
your relatives, to be paved with the ruins of your ancient 
houfe. As we walk along, do we not feem to trample 
upon broken fceptres, fallen crowns, and degraded forms 
of monarchs ?" 

& There are alfo circumftances of a fugitive nature, 
which, like the momentary and embelliming accidents 
of light, will ferve to heighten and enforce fome par- 
ticular object of difcuflion. 1 cannot better illuflrate 
nay meaning, than by citing a beautiful paffage from a 

letter 



ELOQUENCE, 75 

letter of Aaron Hill to Richardfcn, on the publication 
of Pamela : 

" When I read Pamela, I could not help naming you 

ty hope , as the moulder of this maiden model. Pa- 

DOiTeiTes general attention, and, like the fnow that 

lies on the earth, covers every other image with her 

own unbounded whitenefs." 

There is alfo a method of enforcing an argument 
from the object which engages the attention of the 
perfon you wifn to perfuade : this is finely illuftrated 
in a (peech cf Agrippina. Tacitus informs us, that 
ra being accufed- by the emperor, Agrip- 
pina, refenting the indignity offered her injured friend 
relation, ruilied into the prefence of Tiberius, and 
ling him in the act of offering a facrifice to the 
manes of Augustus, fhe accofted him in a tone of ve- 
hemence : 

" The piety which thus employs itfelf in flaying 
ims to the deceafed emperor, agrees but ill with 
hatred that perfecutes his pofterity. Thofe are 
which you adore ; they are not animat- 
ed with the fpirit of Auguftus ; his defcendants are 
living images of him, and yet even they whofe veins 
warm widi his celeftial blood, ftand trembling on 
i of peril : Why is Clodia Pulchra devoted to 

the preceding fpeech cannot fupply the 
icher with any imitative hint, nor iuggefl any thing 
:ly fimilar, it may point to him the manner offer- 
ing a peculiar circumftance, and arguing from 
immediate fituaticn. 

The abrupt diverfion of a difcourfe to another object 
(a figure in which ancient oratory feems to delight) 
may occafionally be introduced into a moral exhorta- 
tion. Cicero's addrefs to the Martian legion, Vos vera 
patria natos judico ! &c. and his appeal to the hills and 
groves of Alba, are well known to the claffical reader t 
but however fpirited thefe addreffes to departed perfons 
and inanimate objects may appear, they certainly fkrink 
before the fublime appeal of a late unfortunate queen ! 

whoo 



T6 ESSAY ON 

who, as flie ftood at the bar, humbled, degraded, out- 
raged, at a certain calumnious imputation, her elaftic 
mind foared above difgrace ; and, burning into voice, 
fhe cried out with the energy of nature — " I appeal to- 
all the mothers who are in this court ! I confign my 
innocence to your decifion ! tell me, tell me, is it pot- 
fible that a parent can be guilty of this crime ?" 

Is Reafon then to be excluded as an unavailing ac- 
trefs in the theatre of Truth ? By no means ! Let her 
come forward in the caufe of religion, and let her be 
heard in her turn ; and although me is not allowed to 
wear the flowery garb of Rhetoric, let her chafte argu- 
ment be clear, forcible, and concife ; let her feeming 
neglect of exciting the paffions be blended with a fub- 
dued eloquence : let her have a view to the heart, even 
while fhe is addreffing the understanding ; let her re- 
femble the ihepherdefs in Virgil, whofe flight is attend- 
ed with a wifh to be feen : Et fugit ad.falices> et fs cupit 
ante inderi. 

The following melancholy expostulation of Wollaf- 
ton, under the idea that exiftence terminates with this 
life, is a kind of concealed eloquence which reaches the 
heart through the underftanding : 

" Is this life the period of being ? Did man come 
into the world only to make his way through the prefs, 
amidft many juftling and hard druggies, with at bed 
only a few deceitful, little, fugacious pleafures inter- 
fperfed, and fo go out of it again I Can this be an end 
worthy a Firft Caufe perfectly reafonable ? Can I be 
made capable of fuch great expectations, which the an- 
imals know nothing of (happier by far in this regard 
that I am, if we mult die alike) only to be difappointed 
at lafl ? Thus placed juft upon the confines of another 
better world, and fed with hopes of penetrating into it, 
and enjoying it, only to make a fliort appearance here, 
and then to be fliut out and totally funk ? Muft I then, 
when I bid my laft farewell to thefe walks, when I clofe 
thefe lids, and yonder blue regions and all this fcene 
darken upon me and go out ; muft I then only ferve . 
to furniih duft to be mingled with the aihes of thefe 

herds 



hOQWE 77 

nerds and plants, or with this dirt under my feet ? Have 
I been fet fo far above them in life, only to be levelled 
with them at death:'' Si : ^ _ „ ■ 

Of this fpecies of reafoning to which i now aliuae, 
is the celebrated paffage in k, beginning with 

thefe words : < ; Go to your natural religion." 

This folitary initance of animated elocution, amidi! 
fo many difcouries, " is like the lightning in the collied 
night, which unfolds both heaven and earth, <and ere 
a man hath power to fay, Behold, the jaws of darknefs 
do devour it up." 

The Abbe Boifmont happily unites the powers of 
logic with the fplendour of rhetoric, in his addrefs to 
the infidel writers : 

" I am ready to acknowledge you have 

rendered humanity : I am ready to acknowlt. 
you have checked the progreis of fanaticism ; that you 
down the flaming pyres of intolerance : 
and, as a Miniiier cf the Gofpel, I thus public!;/ thank 
you in :' n. But let me aik, why 

you are fo ardent for the annihilation of all werfhip i 
why fo anxious for the abolition cf our foiemnities ? 
Were eve: U of this metropolis levelled with the 

dull, to - ild the wretched refort to 

pour out fted foul tc ? Were every 

of the Gofpel profcribed, where would be the 
hand to tear from ek of misfortune ? 

be voice to br * accents cf confolation 

to the m :ed and exalted as your 

name may be, tell me, do you account it fufficiently 

erful to fummon avarice and opulence to unl 
their , and to refpecl t3 cf the p: 

Can the abftrad images cf humanity, of liberty, of 
equality, warm, foften, or v You ev- 

ery where repreferit n 

the footh v/ith 

an equal ardour we en .is image, and hold it to 

our bofom. To you, • ; to 

us, it is warm and life ! You declaim, 

and , this 

G 2 'family 



f, 



ESSAY ON 

family of brotherhood is {esn ; it k in our temples on- 
ly, where paffion, refentment, vengeance fink into a 
calm ; where feparate interefts congregate into one be- 
nevolent fentiment. You have your lyceums and in- 
fhtutions for the encouragement of literature, but you 
have no fchool for the fcience of Humanity : you 
fpeak of her indeed, in your difcuffions and academic 
harangues ; but it is in our temples only, that fhe 
fpeaks herfelf, acts, and commands ! becaufe equality 
is only to be found at the foot of the altar, where birth, 
dignity, talents difappear, and the Chriftian alone re- 
mains !■"■ 

Mr. Erikine fupplies me with another inftance of this 
moral reafoning, in his fpeech of June 24th, 1797, in the 
court of King's Bench, Weftminfter, the King v. Wil- 
liams, for publifhing Paine's Age of Reafon. 

In order to deprefs and degrade the pretentions of the 
fhalow unbeliever, Mr. Erfkine cites four of our moft 
eminent literary characters, whofe brilliancy of mind 
nuas as the fun in- the gray vault of heaven ! and who em- 
braced, with the firmeft perfuafion, the Chriftian doc- 
trine. 

11 In running the mind along the long lift of fmcere 
and devout Chriftians, I cannot help lamenting, that 
Newton had not lived to this day, to hare had his 
fhallownefs filled up with this new flood of light. — 
But the fubjecl is too awful for irony. I will fpeak 
plainly and directly. Newton was a Chriftian ! — 
Newton> whofe mind burft forth from the fetters caft' 
by nature upon our finite conceptions — -Newton, whofe 
fcience was truth, and the foundation of whofe knowl- 
edge of it was philofophy ; not thofe vifionary and ar- 
rogant prefumptions, which too often ufurp its name, 
but philofophy refting upon the bafis of mathematics, 
which, like figures, cannot lie — Newton, who carried 
the line and rule to the uttermoft barriers of creation, 
and explored the principles by which, no doubt, all cre- 
ated matter is held together and exifts. But this ex- 
traordinary man, in the mighty reach of his mind, 
overlooked, perhaps- the errors, which a minuter in- 

vefligation. 



ELOQUENCE. 79 

veftigatlon of the created things on this earth might 
have taught him, of the effence of his Creator. What 
fhall then be faid of the great Mr. Boyle, who looked 
into the organic ftrueture of all matter, even to the 
brute inanimate fub fiances, which the foot treads on ? 
Such a man may be fuppofed to have been equally 
qualified with Mr. Paine to look up through Nature to 
Nature's God : yet the refult of all his contemplation 
was the moil confirmed and devout belief in all which 
the other holds in contempt, as defpicable and drivel- 
ling fuperirition. — But this error might, perhaps, arife 
from a want of due attention to the foundations of hu- 
man judgment, and the ftrueture of that underftanding 
which God has given us for the inveftigation of truth. 
Let that queftion be anfwered by Mr. Locke, who was, 
to the higheit pitch of devotion and adoration, a Chrif- 
tian — Mr. Locke, whofe office was to detect the errors 
of thinking, by going up to the fountains of thought, 
and to direct into the proper track of reafoning, the 
devious mind of man, by mowing him its whole pro- 
cefs, from the firft perceptions of fenfe to the laft con- 
clufions of ratiocination, putting a rein upon falfe opin- 
ion, by practical rules for the conduct of human judg- 
ment. But thefe men were only deep thinkers, and 
lived in their clofets, unaccuftomed to the traffic of the 
world, and to the laws which practically regulate man- 
kind. 

" Gentlemen ! in the place where we now fit to ad- 
minifter the juftice of this great country, above a cen- 
tury ago, the never to be forgotten Sir Matthew Hale 
prefided ; whofe faith in Chriftknity is an exalted 
commentary upon its truth and reafbn, and whofe life 
was a glorious example of its fruits in man, administer- 
ing human juftice with wifdom and purity drawn 
from the pure fountain of the Chriftian difpenfation, 
which has been, and will be in all ap;es, a fubject of the 
higheft reverence and admiration. But it is faid by the 
author, that the Chriftian fable is but the tale of the 
more ancient fuperftitions of the world, and rnay.be 
eafily detected by a proper underftanding of the my- 
thologies 



80 ESSAY ON 

thologies of the heathens. Did Milton underftand 
thofe mythologies ? Was he lefs verfed than Mr. Paine 
in the fuperftitions of the world ? No, they were the 
fubjedt of his immortal fong ; and though fhut out 
from all recurrence to them, he poured them forth from 
the (lores of a memory rich with all that man ever knew, 
and laid them in their order as the illuftration of real 
and exalted faith, the unqueftionable fource of that fer- 
vid genius, which caft a fort of made upon all the other 
works of man. But it was the light of the body only 
that was extinguifhed ; ' The celeftial light fhone in- 
' ward, and enabled him to juftify the ways of God to 
* man/ The refult of his thinking was never thelefs not 
the fame as the author's. The myfterious incarnation 
of our bleffed Saviour (which this work blafphemes in 
words fo wholly unfit for the mouth of a Chriftian, or 
for the ear of a court of juftice, that I dare not, and will 
not, give them utterance) Milton made the grand con- 
clufion of the Paradife Loft, the reft from his finifhed la- 
bours, and the ultimate hope, expectation, and glory of 
the world. 

" Thus you find all that is great, or wife, or fplen- 
did, or illuftrious, amongft created beings ; all the 
minds gifted beyond ordinary nature, if not infpired by 
its univerfal Author for the advancement and dignity 
of the world, though divided by diftant ages, and by 
claming opinions, diftinguifhing them from one another, 
yet j pining as it were in one fublime chorus to celebrate 
the truths of Chriftianity, and laying upon its holy 
altars the never-fading offerings of their immortal wif- 
dom." 

The next inftance I mall produce of that logic adapt- 
ed to the pulpit, is from a Spanim author : his reafoning 
is iimple and unadorned, but clear, daring, and irrefift- 
iblc. * 

Savonarola fays, in his Triumpho Crucis, " That 
unlefs the truth of our religion be granted, a Chriftian 
niuft be the greateft monfter in nature : he muft at the 
fame time be eminently wife, and notorioufly foclifh ^ 
•i wife man in his practice, and a fool in his belief: his. 

realbnlng; 



ELOQUENCE. 82 

reafoning powers muft be deranged by a conftant de- 
lirium, while his conduct never fwerves from the path 
of propriety : and he muft be an abhorred mixture of 
truth and falfehood^of purity and corruption. 

" If the infidel afterts that Jefus Chrift is not the 
true God, this contradiction evidently follows, that he 
muft have been at once the moft holy and the moft 
wicked of men : there being no crime fo audacious, as 
that of pretended and ufurped divinity. Was it pofli- 
ble that virtue fo exalted mould be erected upon injuf- 
tice ? that the proudeft and the moft ambitious of man- 
kind mould be the great mafter and acccmpliihed pat- 
tern of humility ? that a doctrine fo pure as the Gof- 
pel mould be the work of an uncommiliioned pretend- 
er ? that fo perfect a fyftem of morals mould be eftab- 
Iifhed on blafphemy ?" 

I beg leave to offer a more recent inftance of pa- 
thetic reafoning, of which I was a witnefs on Friday 
the 20th of laft March in St. James's Church : the em- 
inent Preacher* enforced the conviction of our Sa- 
viour's afcent from the grave by developing the charac- 
ter of St. Peter, and by difplaying the abrupt change 
that operated on the mind of the Apoftle after that 
miraculous event had taken place. The previous tim- 
id, fluctuating difpofition of the Apoftle was energet- 
ically oppofed to his iubfequent decifive and intrepid 
conduct. The logical inference deduced by the illuf- 
trious Prelate was not a cold difcuflive ratiocination : 
the ftream of his argument rufh-.d~with convincing 
power, flooding the mind with certainty, and the heart 
with rapture. 

In this manner I mould wiih to fee the reafoning 
faculties employed in a moral difcourfe. The object of 
this ElTay is, to endeavour to remove that vis inertia 
to fting that apathy which f<M^jpquently adheres to an 
Englifh fermon. South very properly obferves, that 
" he who prefumes on the efficiency of truth, forgets 
that men have affections to be care/Ted, as well as an un- 
derftanding to be informed." 

Fenelon, 
• The Bifhop of London. 



m ESSAY ON 

Fenelon, who may be denominated the Prieft of Sen- 
Ability, excludes from the pulpit all logical ratiocina- 
tion : he wiihes the preacher would addrefs his audi- 
ence with the feelings of a parent. In the difcourfe 
he pronounced at the ordination of the Elector of Co- 
logne he has the following remarkable paffage : 

" Ye paftors, whofe function it is to adminifter the 
word of God, think not that you comply with the du- 
ties of your profeffion, if you only poffefs the art of 
reproving your audience, and of difpafficnately expa- 
tiating on the letter of the law. I would have every 
Minifter of the Gofpel addrefs his audience with the 
zeal of a friend, with the generous energy of a father, 
and with the exuberant affection of a mother. — Soy ex. 
fisres, ce n'efi pas £jf*%,foye% meres," 

This tendernefs, however, of ex pre (lion, is exceeded 
by thefe words of St. Paul to the Galatians ; " My lit- 
tle children, of whom I travail in birth again, until 
Chrifl be formed in you." Chap. iv. verfe 19. And 
again : " We were gentle among you, as a nurfe cherifh- 
etfa her children." 

But how are the young Ecclefiadics, who form no 
inconsiderable part of the company of Preachers, to 
fupply that authority which is the refult of years and 
experience ? To this queftion I make this anfwer : By 
the innocence of their lives. The life of a pious Cler- 
gyman, fays Hooker, is a kind of a vifible rhetoric : and 
I mull add, that when piety is the affcciate of youth, 
it has fomething irrefiflibly alluring ; and, like the al- 
mond-tree in bloffom, attracts and detains the eye, be- 
fore the production of fruit. The youngs Ecclefiaftic 
may fupply that fruit of age, authority, by a zeal accom- 
panied with a diffident and unaffuming manner, when 
he exercifes his profeffional duty. He Ihould appear 
impreued with an awful fenfe of his function, but not 
fubdued ! collected, but not diftreifed ! " There fhould 
be fome life in this palenefs, the colour of devotion, 
giving a luftre to reverence, and a glow to humility." 

Every virtue may be excited by the Preacher in his 
pointing out fignal examples. Jofephus gives a fine 

inftance 



ELOQUENCE. 83 

inftance of fortitude in Eleazer, a man far advanced in 
years, who being threatened by Antiochus if he ftil! 
refufed to partake of the meat forbidden by the lav*, 
returned this intrepid anfwer : 

" Old age has not fo impaired my mind, or enfeeb- 
led my body, but, when religion and duty call upon 
me, I feel a youthful and vigorous foul. Does this 
declaration awaken your refentment ? Prepare your 
inftruments of torture, provoke the flames of the fur- 
nace to a fiercer rage ; nothing fhall induce me to fave 
thefe filver locks, by a violation of the ordinances of 
my country, and of my God ! Thou holy law ! from 
whom I derive my knowledge, I will never defert fo ex- 
cellent a mailer. Thou prime virtue, temperance ! I 
will never abjure thee. Auguft and facred priefthood i 
I will never difgrace thee. I will bear to my ancef- 
rors a pure unfullied foul, as free from ftain, as I 
ftandin this place devoid of fear, amidft the parade of 
your threatening engines, and implements of martyr- 
dom." 

A fortitude not ftamped with the image of religion 
maybe held up to view, for the purpofe of marking 
its ipurious features, and its illegitimate pretentions to 
admiration. The French .revolution fupplies me with 
an eminent example in the hiftory of Charlotte Corday. 
She went to Paris, and under fome fpecious pretext ob- 
tained admiffion to that chief of republican tyrants, 
Marat ; in whofe breaft fhe plunged a dagger, and juf- 
tiiied the deed by afferting, that it was a duty fhe ow- 
ed her country and mankind, to rid the world of fuch 
a monfler. Her deportment during the trial was mod- 
eft and dignified. There was fo engaging a foftnefs in 
her countenance, that it was difficult to conceive how 
fhe could have armed herfelf with fufficient intrepidity 
to execute the deed. Her anfwers to the queftions of 
the tribunal were pointed and energetic. She forne- 
times furprifed the audiemce by her wit, and excited their 
admiration by her eloquence : fhe retired while the ju- 
ry deliberated op their verdict. ; and when fhe again en- 
tered the tribunal, there was a majeftic folemnity in her 

demeanour, 



i> KJ ij J. i. A 



demeanour, which perfectly became her fituatlon. She 
heard her fentence with attention and compofure. It 
is difficult to conceive the heroifm w T hich fhe difplayed 
in her way to execution. There was fuch an air of 
chaflened exultation thrown over her countenance, as 
infpired fentiments of love rather than pity. The fpec- 
tators, as fhe palled, uncovered their heads, and others 
gave loud tokens of applaufe. She afcended the fcaf- 
fold with firmnefs ; when the executioner took off her 
handkerchief fhe blufhed ; and her countenance, when 
her head was held up to the multitude the moment af- 
ter it was fevered from the body, exhibited this laft im- 
preffion of offended modefty. This account is tran* 
fcribed from that entertaining and inftructive work, 
called Medical Extracts, by Dr. Thornton. 

After citing this or fome fimilar example, the preach- 
er muft endeavour to eradicate the admiration that 
naturally adheres to an act of intrepidity. He muil 
endeavour to fortify the eye again!! the dazzling glare 
of a bold tranfaction. When this unfortunate young 
woman firf! conceived her criminal defigns, fhe violated 
the chafte referve belonging to the female character, 
clofed her bofom againft the compunctious vifitings of 
nature, and roughened into an affaflm : uninfpired from 
above, unsanctioned by the law, uninfligated by her 
companions, fhe entered upon a felf ordained million. 
In purfuit of her purpofe the deluded enthufiafl breaks 
through the barrier of virtue, tramples upon the mild 
precepts of the Gofpel, harbours in her breaft the 
very crime fhe is haftening" to punifh, appoints herfelf 
the bloody minifter of juftice ; and, while fhe holds up 
the dagger, fhe is a traitrefs to her religion, and the ex- 
ecutioner of her own innocence. 

An incident alfo in the life of cur Henry the Fifth 
might be adduced for the purpofe of initruction. The 
fame inventive audacity that obtained the victory at 
Agincourt in the midft of exhauiied refources, prompt- 
ed him in his youth, when he was under the preifure of 
parental difgrace, to excite his father to become his 

murderer- 



ELOQUENCE. 35 

murderer. The fact is recorded by Holinihed arid 
Stcwe. 

The young Harry, in the courfe of his diffolute ca- 
reer, ftill entertained the impreilions of duty. The tor- 
rent of diffipation concealed, but did not efface, the im-f 
age of virtue engraven on his heart. What iirfl awak- 
ened him to a fenfe of -decorum, \vas his being inform- 
ed that the king had imbibed fufpicions (in his regard) 
of the moil atrocious and treafonable intentions. This 
intelligence tortured his fennbility. He haftened to 
court with -a few of his friends, who remained in the 
outward apartments while he was conducted by feme 
perfons in waiting to the king, who was alarmed at this 
fudden intrufion ; and while fear and indignation gath- 
ered on his brow, the prince threw himfelf at his fa- 
ther's feet, lamenting his pad errors. This was no pre- 
pared, artfully contracted exhibition, but a natural 
ebullition of returning duty. He then put a dagger in- 
to his father's hand ? and faid, 

" I mould wifli to vindicate my felf from the afper- 
fion of difloyalty ; but you, Sir, have fufpected me, and 
the Main of that fufpicion will continue : flay the fon 
who has planted thorns on his father's pillow. I am 
not acting a fcene on the ft age, I am uttering my own 
fentiments : I have jufc difburdened my confeience at 
the tribunal of confeflion, and I come from the altar 
where I received the holy communion, and am prepar- 
ed to die : I adjure you to put an end to my exigence : 
I fwear by the facred hod which fo lately paffed thefe 
lips , that I will forgive you at the day of judgment." — 
At thefe words the king clrcpt the dagger, fell on the 
neck of his fon, and wept. 

Should the Preacher weave this ftory into the texture 
of his difcourfe, he would accompany it with the feverely 
reprobating an act that deepens a crime with the prof- 
anation of, religious rites. Although the pure and fim- 
pie injunctions of reformed belief are lefs liable to de- 
votional errors, particularly to any of fuch magnitude ; 
yet inftances are not wanting in which an enthufiaftic 
fervour has mifled the members of the eftablimment. 
H There 



Ifa ESSAY ON 

.There are alio fame who think to bribe the wrath of 
Heaven by charitable donations. There are others 
who imagine they can atone (by going to church on the 
week-days) for waiting that money in a public-houfe 
which ought to be devoted to the demands of their fam- 
ily. This laft inftance of commutative devotion is pe- 
culiar to the frequenters of the Tabernacle. The en- 
lightened initructor will take care to inform his audi- 
ence, that there is no being partially virtuous, that true 
religion acts upon the mind .as Nature when fhe forms 
a flower, who developes the whole fyftem of the plant 
at the fame time, and breathes life and beauty on every 
leaf. 

The compliance with the duties of our ftation, when 
accompanied with danger, is edifyingly illuftrated in 
the corfduct of the Bifhop of Marfeilles during the 
plague. When nature fickened, and each gale was 
death, when the phyficians abandoned their patients, 
when the paftors deferted their flock, the holy Prelate 
remained within the infectious walls, in order to warm 
the timid, to infufe hope into the dejected, to foothe the 
Hifferer, to folace the dying, and adminifter the laft of- 
fice to the dead. 

The fame virtuous principle operated upon Rotrou, 
a French dramatic author, the predeceifor of Corneille. 
He was governor of Dreux at the time that a peflilen- 
tial fever raged in that town. To the folicitations of 
a particular friend at Paris, who prefled him to remove 
from the local contagion, he returns the following an- 
fwer : 

Ci I cannot obey your flattering importunities : while, 
I retain my health, my prefence is of fervice to this 
diftrefled city. The difeafe is not abated : at this very 
moment I hear the death-bell toll for the twenty fec- 
ond perfon who has died this morning : it will toll for 
me whenever God pleafes." 

He fell a victim to his duty a few days after. 
Thefe hiftoric illuftrations have been adduced for the 
purpofe of recommending to the young Ecclefiaftic this 
method of forne times enlivening his difcGurfej and for 

the 



ELOQUENCE. 87*" 

the p&rpcfe of (limulating his purfuit in the inveftiga- 
tron facts, which are to be found in the page 

of eel nd in the annals of virtue. An authen- 

ticated fact, happily introduced, affumes the character of 
an ai where the feverity of the precept is loft in 

the a of the ftory : a recorded example calls 

a pleafmg light upon a difcourfe, and gives to airy ex- 
hortation an attractive form, 

I was Mating the edifying example of the Bifh- 
Mar fellies and of Rotrou, my fiirprife was excit- 
hat hiftory has recorded fo few particulars relative 
to thofe calamities, the fire and the plague in London. 
It may be prefumed thofe two great events muft have 
produced actions of the brighter! heroifm, efforts of the 
more refined virtue, proofs of the moil exalted friend- 
fhip, interefting occurrences, fublime energies, trials of 
the moft afflicting nature, eloquent complainings of 
wounded felicity, fcenes of demeftic affecrion, exhibi- 
tions of maternal intrepidity, fpectacles cf parental ag- 
ony, exploits cf filial piety, and achievements of frater- 
nal love : all which the hand of Oblivion has buried be- 
neath her fhroud. 

Our great Dry den, in his Annus Mirabilis, deals in 
general defcription ; he developes no pregnant incident, 
urges no particular point, difpiays no heart-rending fit- 
nation which fo recent a calamity muft have afforded 
hi in ; but he accompanies the conflagration from ftreet 
to flreet, from one church to another, in a geographical 
progrefs, with a marvellous Infeafibility, 

A calamity of fuch a tremendous magnitude mud 

have "applied the moral mind with ample materials ; 

yet the Preachers cf that day, Calamy, Sprat, Stilling- 

fleet, &c did net avail themfelves cf that important 

event, either to alarm the impenitent (inner* or confole 

the patient fufferer. The people ftill carrying on their 

countenance a recollective terror, befxeged the pulpits 

which were erected in the fields and in the open air, 

jerly expecting the words of comfort from the voice 

Pallor. Yet no expreffions lenient of fcrrow 9 

reflections peculiarly afluafive, no foothing terms to 

^ calm 



,J# ESSAY ON 

calm the ruffled foul, no confolatory language breathing 
balm upon the feftering fore, ever flowed from the lips 
©f the Preacher. 

As a fpecimen of the manner in which this great 
event wes fometimes mentioned in the pulpit, I will 
tranferibe a parage from Bifhop Sprat in his fermon 
dilivered before the Sons of the Clergy, November 7th. 
1678 : 

" If you remember how your city firft rofe out of its 
afhes after the dreadful fire, which, no doubt, you can 
never forget : as that was rebuilt not prefently, by raif- 
ing continued ftreets in any one part, but at firft here a 
home and there a houfe, to which others by degrees 
were joined : fo every one of your houfes being firft 
raifed, and appearing eminent above others in piety, 
others will focn take pattern and encouragement from 
your building." 

This whimfical architectural fimile, I prefume, met 
with great fuccefs, fmce it was adopted afterwards al- 
moftword for word by Calamy,ina fermon preached 
before the mayor and aldermen, on fome anniverfary 
of the conflagration : 

"The foundation of this city (fays that preacher) 
was not all laid at the fame time, nor continued flreets 
tailed at once, but at firft, here a houfe and there a 
houfe, to which others by degrees were joined. Thus 
cur reformation muft take its beginning from fome 
few, from whom others may take pattern and encour- 
agement, till at length it generally prevails." 

Thefe citations (to which many others might be add- 
ed) ar£ fufficient to expofe the deftitute ftate of facred 
oratory at that period. 

The learned Stiliingfleet preached before the Houfe 
of Commons on the fair-day appointed for the dreadful 
ore, October 10th, 1G66. One would imagine that on 
inch an irnpi edive and awful fclemnity, the cold facul- 
ties of the fcholar would have fermented into fome 
• svakenieg expoftulation, fome terrific retrofpeel, fome 
elegiac lamentation over a city fepulchred in her own 
ruins I The difcourie, however, of Stiliingfleet, by no 

meaiu 



ELOQUENCE- 89 

means correfporids with its fublime fabject : he with-" 
draws from the actual cataftrophe to hunt after refer- 
ences and fimilar diftreffes ; he introduces Sodom and 
Gomorrah, which are inapplicable to his prefent object* 
botL from the nature of their guilt, and from the man- 
ner of their deftruction ; he wanders over hiftory, and 
leads his audience to the conflagrations at Rome, dur- 
ing the reigns of Nero, Titus, and of Ccmmodus : then 
he takes his flight to Conftantinople, and informs his 
auditors that the fire broke out at that place in the be- 
ginning of September, Anno Domini 455 ; that it broke 
forth by the water-fide, and raged for four days togeth- 
er. And in this catalogue of ruined cities, the over- 
throw of Tyre and Damafcus was certain not to be 
omitted. 

He afferts that luxury and intemperance are among 
the caufes which called down the vengeance of Heav- 
en upon the city. As the indigent could not be iup- 
pofed to call down vengeance upon their humble hab- 
itations for the crime of luxury, I prefume he had only 
in view the tables of the corporation : and I alio pre- 
fume, when the Orator adds, " Ye kine of Bafhan, 
which fay, Bring, and let us drink," he alluded to the 
court of aldermen. 

This elaborate difcourfe was publifhed by order of 
the Houfe. When I fee annexed to the title-page of a 
fermon, Publl/hed at the requejl of the audience, I am 
prompted to think that the requeft fometimes arifes 
from a revengeful fpirit, die audience wifhing to ex- 
pofe to the world a dull performance they had the mif- 
fortune of hearing. 

But to return from this digreffion : I beg leave to rec- 
ommend to the clerical ftudent the works of our old 
unfashionable divines : I would have him commence 
with the writers who were in repute at the revolution. 
Let him^ not (Wink from a- tafK which will be compen- 
fated by folid advantages. The perufal of thefe au- 
thors is like a tour to the caves, where the traveller, as 
he wanders through the gloomy Subterraneous paiTag- 
es, is furprifed and delighted with fudden corrufcations, 
H 2 But 



90 ESSAY ON 

©Ut while I ?im leading the young fhident to the 
door of the ancient fchool, it is not with the confidence 
of his finding any genuine and perfect models of mor- 
al exhortation : but he will Rnd in this neglected fchool, 
a vein of pure doctrine, running through the coarfe 
ore with which it is encrufted ; he will meet with rug- 
ged tendencies to literary -excellence, which may fthn- 
ulate his more refined taile ; misfhapen, but, elevated 
points, from which he may take his aflifted flight ; ex- 
plofions of unexpected e'io queue?, which may provoke 
his emulation ; and uncouth exprefilons of tendernefs. 
-which may awaken his finer fenfibility* 

I fiiculd have recommended Burnet on the Thirty- 
nine Articles, had not the merit of that work been loft 
in the fplendour of a recent Expofltion by the Biiliop 
of Lincoln. I beg leave, hew/ever, to recommend Bur- 
net's Pafloral Care, which is the warm eifufion of an 
enlightened mind. It was his favourite compofition : 
he was accuftomed to fpeak of it with complacency. 
In the Preface to the third edition of his Paftoral Care 
he fays, " I own this is my fovourite book. — I am now 
in the feventieth year of my age ;- and as I cannot fpeak 
long to the world in any fort, f© I cannot hope for. a 
more folemn occafion than this, of fpeaking, with all 
due freedom, both to tke prefent, and to the fucceeding 
ages.'' 

The reafon, perhaps, that this work adminiftered to 
him fo foothing a gratification at the clofe of life, was, 
from its being free from diftorting mifreprefentations, 
in consequent concluficns, and political refentments, and 
containing nothing that could difturb him in the filent 
hour cf reflection, 

Epifcopal and archdeaconal Charges, even after tlie 
rlcf s of novelty has paffed away, and after the bloom of 
their firft appearance has faded, may ftill adminifiier 
falutary information, prompting fuggeftions, and di- 
recting outlines to the inexperienced novice. The 
Charges of the Bifhop of Rochester are ftamped with a 
peculiar character, imprefilng an awful conviction cf 
the Chriftian doctrine. The charge delivered at his, 

primary 



ELOQUENCE. 9i 

primary vifitafion when he Was Bifliop of St. David, 
ihould be the object of peculiar attention to the Clergy 
of this kingdom When they fir ft enter upon their fa- 
cred fund ion ; it mould be their pole-ftar to guide 
them in their apoftolic courfe. This eminent Prelate 
has ftill other claims upon public gratitude, as the 
champion of our faith who has fo iUuftriduffy ferved 
the caufe of Chriftianity in his conteft with Prieftley, 
and who fcorned to relinquim the field ? before he had 
entangled and captived the lien in his toils. 

When the {Indent has ftored his mind (to ufe the 
\yords of Milton) "with induftrious and {elect read- 
ing, fteady obfervation, and infight into all leemly and 
generous arts/' die may with calm confidence become 
a labourer in the holy vineyard : but let him not fer- 
viiely move in the fame track as his predeceifbrs ; let 
him ftrike' out of the diurnal path, and beat the unex- 
plored field : let him not be reftrained and chilled 
with the idea that everv fubjecl has been already dif- 
cuued ; that in the purfuit of novelty, he is in the 
purfuit of a chimera. Innumerable are the paffages in 
the Old and New Teftament, which, either as orna- 
ments or proofs of religion, have net yet been exhaust- 
ed ; and even thofe fentiments and expreiiions, which 
have already been employed, may be considered as fo 
many diamonds that only require to be new fet. 

But in the variegated arrangement of materials, and 
in the purfuit of original Subjects, it behoves the young 
(Indent to be cautious and referved. A new-appoint- 
ed Lecturer at the weft end of the town, introduced a 
fubjeft that would have been difcufied with more pro- 
priety at Doctor's Commons. The lecturer difplayed 
to his audience the crime cf deferring the execution of 
their wills. This fpiritual Proctor appeared amiably 
anxious for the heirs and the future furviving friends 
of his audience, and ardently entreated all thofe who 
had omitted this duty, to fulfil without delay the preff- 
ing obligation. A half-reprefFed fmile was vifible on 
the countenance of feveral of his auditors ; and it al- 
Hioft feemed, from the zeal of the Preacher, as if he 

wilted 



m ESSAY ON 

wifhed to coalefce in the mind of the teflator the advice 
and the advifer. 

To qualify, however, thefe flriclures with the praife 
that is due to the abilities of this gentleman, I record 
with pleafure his fermon on the evening of the 4th of 
lafl January. His addrefs to the younger part of his 
audience was forcible and affectionately perfuafive, 
burfting forth in a ftrain of uncommon eloquence. 

This gentleman I understand obtained the lefture- 
fnip chiefly through the canvafs and mediation of his 
female auditors, and may be faid, in Dry den's phrafe, 
to be " bifhoped by the fair." If this gentleman fhould 
not be too vain of his female mitre, if he does not enter- 
tain the prefumptuous idea that he has already at- 
tained the fummit of perfection, and if he fhould ar- 
dently and • unremittingly devote his purfuit to his pro- 
feffional duty, I do not hefitate to foretell his future 
excellence, and that he will be found among thofe who 
are eminently qualified to infufe a fpirit of animation 
into the moral exhortation of this country. 

Metaphoric language, whether employed for eluci- 
dation or ornament, fbould be directed by the impulfe 
oftafte. The young ccmpofer mufl notfuffer himfelf 
to be dazzled by the luftre of a great immortal name, 
Edmund Burke ! All the treafures of nature, all the 
riches of art, all the poffeffions of fcience, were prefent 
and familiar to his expanded intellect. He fometimes 
therefore forms his metaphor with a wanton luxuri- 
ance from inelegant objects : the flaughter-houfe, the 
fchcol of anatomy, the hall of direction, the fcience 
of midwifery, are known to illuftrate his ccmpofitions 
and adminiiler to his omnivorous mind. 

The Preacher, particularly in the feafon of youth, 
ihouldbe attentive to acquire a chaftenefs of compo- 
sition*, free from inflated language, and from a boaftful 
declamatory ftyle. A young Italian monk, who was 
addicted to this unclafiical mode of oratory, acknowl- 
edges that he was cured of his defect by receiving an 
unexpected cenfure while he was in the pulpit. He 
Tv r as appointed to pronounce the penegyric of the tute- 
lary. 



ELOQUENCE. 83 

lary faint of fome church at Padua : this young ora- 
tor (who fome years after became a diftingufhed 
Preacher) began his difcourfe in the moft exalted ftrain. 
Having congratulated the temple on the honour of be- 
ing immediately under the patronage of fo great a 
faint, he proceeded with faying he knew not where to 
point out the refidence of a faint cf fuch enlarged and 
complicated merit ! Shall T introduce him into the fo- 
ciety of the apoftles ? fhall I affociate him with the ar- 
my of martyrs ? fhall I affign to him a feat among the 
confeifcrs ? where, where fhall I place our tutelary 
faint ? 

As he pronounced thefe words, a man fuddenly rif- 
ing up cried out, " Reverend Father, as you appear to 
be at a lofs how to difpofe of your faint, you may place 
him, if you pleafe, in my feat, for I am going away." 

This practical reprimand, though indecorous, was 
fo pointedly directed, that it was of more fervice to 
the declamatory panegyrift, than the perufal of Quin- 
tilian's Inftitutions. 

An indecorous cuftom of occafionally applauding the 
Preacher obtained even in the reformed churches : nor 
did that cuftom fall into difufe till the clofe of the 
reign of Charles the Second. We are informed by the 
memoirs of that period of the contrafted manner with 
which two celebrated divines received this adulatory 
homage from their audience : Dr. Sprat, with a rofy 
pudency, with an amiable reluctance, gracefully wav- 
ed his hand, as if anxious to fupprefs the active testi- 
mony of approbation : but Burnet, as refreihed with 
the whifpering breeze of flattery (while the applaufive 
murmur breathed around him) fat down delighted in a 
trance of gratification. 

The moft unequivocal testimony in favour of the 
Preacher, is attention ! but particularly fo is that pro- 
found flillnefs which reigns during the ihcrt intermit- 
iions of the difcourfe, and refembles the filence of fol- 
itude. 

In a. Methodift chapel I have more than once heard 
a kind of a vocal figh, a lengthened moan, which> feem- 

ing 



* ESSAY ON 

ing to iffue from a broken heart, invigorated the powv 
ers of the Preacher, and touched with fympathy the whole 
congregation. 

It is obferved by Mr. Evans, in his Tour through 
North Wales, "That among the Diflenters in that 
part of the world, the people vulgarly called Jumpers 
are fo denominated from their carrying their zeal to 
fuch a height, that, when the Preacher touches pathet- 
ically upon any fubject alluding to the Saviour, more 
efpecially his unexampled love to men, and his vicari- 
ous fufferings for the guilty, the whole congregation 
begin exulting, and difcover their deep obligation, and 
their grateful fenfe of deliverance, by geftures - that 
may appear extravagant to thofe in the habit of think- 
ing lefs warmly upon the fubjecl, or habituated to more 
temperate and modeft exprefiions of joy. I have 
known a Preacher think it prudent to fufpend his har- 
angue till the ferment of zeal had abated, but never 
witneffed any of thofe indecent ebullitions of paffion 
fo frequently detailed by the enemies of religion." — 
See Tour through North Wales, p. 414. 

Although the chaile and referved character of the 
eflablifhed church does not countenance the active ex- 
preflions of joy or of forrow, yet moil afiuredly it is 
the duty of the parochial Clergy to counteract, by ev- 
ery means poffible, the defertion of the lower order, 
attracted to meeting-houfes by the facinating power of 
a more animated exhortation. May the Brltiili Sion, 
that fimple form of evangelic beauty, never have caufe 
to fay that her gates are defdaie, that the ways do mourn 
becaufe none come to the folemn feqfts. 

They who are for div eding mcral exhortation of all 
ornament, fliould recollect, that reafon is no principle 
of action ; that it can neither reftrain us from vice, 
nor excite us to virtue, without the impulfe of affec- 
tion. 

Chriftianity is an inftitution of life, a discipline of the 
heart, which is not to be regulated by cold fpeculations 
and preceptive difcourfes. The mind of mantis form- 
ed by his Creator naturally prompt and alive to the im- 

preflions 



ELOQUENCE. 9 

predion! of fcenery. Objects fo remote from fenfe 
and matter as moral truths, mnft be approximated to 
the mental eye by the power of imagery. 

The monotonous, wearifome found of a fingle bell 
might be almoft as foon expected to excite moral im- 
preffions, as the general tenour of cur pulpit difcourfes, 
which are (with fome exceptions) drcwfily compofed, 
and drowfily delivered. 

An eminent advocate in Rome accufed Ouintus 
Gallius of an attempt to poifon him, and came for- 
ward to produce his evidence ; but the languid inani- 
mate manner of the accufer was interpreted by Cicero 
into a favourable conftrucKcn for his client. He ex- 
claimed, " Ubi dolor? ubi ardor animi ? qui etiamex 
infa jeniis, elicere voces, et querelas foist." 

I fliali be told that the eloquent harangues of reli- 
gi >us fanaticifm have occafioned the moft deplor. „«. 
c: ...- Acs. To tins I reply, that it was the falle l^gic of 
th . fanatic declaim er, and not his eloquence, that ex- 
cited the evils flowing from perfecution. The enno- 
bling feritiment of felf-facrrfice, the awakening fummons 
to virtue, are what conititute the eloquence of the fan- 
atic orator, while he infmuates his argument in favour 
of intolerance, and with infiduoiis arc keeps out cf 
fight the deterring principle. 

The fame may be faid of the fanatical politician. 
The fpeeches of the French regicides, in their connex- 
ion with eloquence, glowed with the iifipreffions of 
patrictifm and the love of mankind, while their impious 
ratiocination led to the moil fatal cenfequences. 

There are fome perfons who adhere to the prefent 
form of moral exhortation becaufe it is the eftablifhed 
mode. Like cuftom grown blind with age, they dare 
not Hep out of the long-worn path. They are willing 
to facrince every advantage rather than innovate the 
prescribed adopted manner : fo that the rule may fpeah^ 
they conlent that the benefit may be mute. It is im- 
poffible to be ferious with fuch antagonists ; I will 
therefore beg leave to apply to them a (lory from Ra- 
belais. 

A* 



M [ESSAY ON 

An abbefs having reprimanded one of her nuns for 
not difmiffing a man who had ftolen into her cell, the 
lifter Simplicia replied, that fhe could not have fent 
the intruder away without ringing her bell. " And 
why did you not," replied the abbefs, " ring your bell ?" 
— " Becaufe," faid fitter Simplicia, *' it was the hour 
of retreat ; and had I made any noife, I fhould have 
violated the immutable rule of filence." 

Frequent opportunities have occurred fmce the firft 
edition of this E'ffay, which have enabled me to fepa- 
rate the unbiaffed judgment from the intolerance of 
prejudice and the inveteracy of habit : and I am hap- 
py to find the unbialfed judgment is propitious to my 
ientiment, which fentiment has been affiimed as exclu- 
■fivplv K/vfl^ «^ faQ prefent mode of exhortation ; — 
timent only goes to the recommending 
lent to its march, a more affectionate 
*ance : I would have the additional 
ly lyre refound in blended harmony 

K s chords. 

if the heavenly Mufe of Eloquence clefcend to 
le an added grace on moral exhortation ! like the 
) Cecilia, who, fuppofed to be commiffioned from 
!, threw her fafcinating inventions over the harmo- 
nic fyftem : 

a The fweet enthufiaft, from her facred ftore, 

Eglarg'd the former narrow bounds, 
- And added length to folemn founds, 
With Nature's mother wit and arts unknown before/' 

As gold is not the lefs valuable for being newly- 
brought cut of the mine, fo novelty is not the lefs al- 
lied to truth, for not having received the ftnmp of pub- 
lic approbation : trial alone mutt decide its claim to gen- 
eral currency. 

The writer of this EfTay has received the pleafing 
affurance, that the introduction of an hiftorical inci- 
dent correfponding with the fubjecT, which he fo ea- 
gerly recommends, has been exemplified in fome 

churches 



ELOQUENCE. 

churches of the metropolis : this is not faid for the 
purpofe of gratifying a contemptible vanity but 
the information of the country Clergyman, who may 
be excited to adopt a method that is countenanced in 
the capital. 

Go ye into all the world, and preach >el.fo-cv?ry 

creature. Do not thefe words cafily ai \e follow- 

ing natural conflruction ? Go and reclaim the ilnner, 
inftrucl; the ignorant, ibften the obdurate, and(ascc~ 
cafion mail demand) cheer, deprefs. repel, allure, dis- 
turb, affuage, confole, or terrify. Can any corres- 
ponding effect be produced from this injunction by the 
referved, timid; and faintly hued expreilions of our 
temple oratory ? As the angel ftirred the ftagnant 
pool, fo mould eloquence difturb the calm of our pul- 
pit inflruclion, in order that the paralyfed foul may be 
warmed and invigorated. 

Did not our heart burn within us while he tallied with 
us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures P 
Would the difciple have made fuch an animated appeal 
to his companion, had the Divine Expofitor delivered 
his fentiments in the cold, indigent, repuliive fcyle of 
our church difcourfes ? . 

The Son of God bodied forth his roftrucl'ons in the 
alluring form of a parable; he might have pronounced 
his divine ethics in plain and common language ; but 
his infallible wifdom knew that the manner he adopt- 
ed would more forcibly imprefs the heart, and longer 
inhabit the memory. 

In the purfuit of truth no perfon mould fuffer him- 
felf to be retrained by the awfulncfs of authority ; and 
on this account I am prompted to pafs i ~ cures 

on Dr. Parr's fpital iermon preached £>i) Y.:f- 

day 1800, and lately puhlimed. His comparative dif- 
cuffion on the felfim and the philanthropic fyitem, and 
his reflections upon benevolence as a quality of nature, 
or a principle of action, are learnedly obfeure, and lit- 
tle adapted to the purpofe of awakening attention : 
p can an audience not habituated to ichoiaitic defi- 
I nhions 



$8 ESSAY ON 

nitions bre fuppofed to comprehend the following 
Hutchefonian jargon ? 

(i Probable it is, that by the laws of afibciation, the 
elements of thofe affections which impel us to weep 
with thofe who weep, and to rejoice with thofe who 
rejoice, were brought into action by events that imme- 
diately interefted curielves, that produced our own 
pleafure, or removed our own pain. It mud however 
be allowed, that thefe affections mingled as they may 
be originally with other confufed fenfations, gradually 
put on a definite form, and become diftinct, entire, 
ultimate perceptions, without reference, not indeed in 
their duties, but in their effence and energies, to any 
' other. When they have been repeatedly exercifed by 
correfpondent and appropriate objects, reflection arifes, 
and is followed by a calm defire of univerfal good, ac- 
cording to the fame order in which felf-love, or the 
calm defire of our own good, fucceeds thofe gratifica- 
tions of particular appetites and affections which are 
the means of fatisfaction to ourfelves." P. 9- 

This language may fuit the filence of a folitary 
chamber, but it is ineffectually employed in a crowded 
affembly, where fo many things concur to interrupt and 
avocate attention. After leading his audience through 
a circuitous avenue, he at length, at page 19 3 enters 
-upon the interfiling part of his fubject ; but having 
already waited fo much of his time, and probably no 
inconfiderable portion of the patience of his auditors, 
he is obliged to hurry over what fliould have conftitut- 
ed the principal and vital part of his difcourfe, I mean 
the object of the institution. To have commented up- 
on the purpefes propofed in the humblefult to the royal 
founder in a correfpondent language of fimplicity and 
affection, would have fiiited better ithefeftive remem-^ 
brance of. the chanty than a go) ^:play of learn- 

ing. The confolation which or g bed the roy- 

al founder drew from having liberally endowed the in- 
ftitution, is .an mrpreiuve and pathetic incident, which 
would have clofed the difcourfe in the happieft man- 
ner. Dr. Parr indeed takes notice of the incident ; 

but 



ELOQUENCE. 99 

but the interesting anecdote grows cold at the touch of 
the fcholaftie Preacher : he diverts attention from the 
words of the dying monarch, to chat euthanajia for 
which a Roman emperor is faid to have prayed, to the 
requefts dictated by vanity, to legacies fuggefted by 
fuperftition, and to donations impelled by remorfe. 
Though the comparative obfervatien may be accurate- 
ly juft, yet, in the urging moment of pathetic impref- 
fion, untimely comparifon fheathes the fling of fenfi- 
bility. 

From a collective view of the ftyle and the abilities 
of this elaborate Preacher, I may fecurely affirm that 
his learning, his redundancy of words, his expanded 
periods, his pampered metaphors, his fplendour of ex- 
predion, his not unfrequent novelty of obfervation, 
with the titles and honours accompanying his literary 
domain, will never bribe to his poiFeilion the Nymph 
of Sacred Eloquence : though he may cry oui with the 
God of verfe, 

— Mihi Delphica lelhis 
Et claros, et Tenedos Paiarieaque regiu fervit — 

fhe flies from him with the fame acceleration a$ Daph- 
ne fled from Apollo. 

A diftinguifhed French Preacher (ftill living) the 
Pere Beauregard, arraigned his audience ibrne years 
ago at Paris an the irhpiety of reading deiftical authors. 
The next day he received feveral parcels from a great 
number of his auditors, containing, as a facrifice to his 
admonition, all the irreligious b pofleffibn. 

Without approving this oft of their 

ntance, I (hall only obferve that the circm'ni fiance I 
have mentioned would not have taken p'ace had the 
difcourie been delivered in a tone of i 
language. 

This eloquent demit was in England at the com- 
mencemeat of the French revolution : I was prefent 
at his fir ft ferrnon (in St. Patrick's Chapel, Soho Square) 
which he addrefled exclufively to his ecclefiaftica! 

brotheren* 



100 ESSAY ON' 

brethren. The impreffion I received at fo interefting* 
a ^ fcene is not yet effaced. The chapel was crowded 
with thefe virtuous exiles : their worn attire, their 
meek deportment, the vifible diftrefs on their counte- 
nance, the fervour of their devotion, prefented this lit- 
tle army of martyrs to the eye of companion. When 
the Preacher looked down from his pulpit, what an 
audience rufhed upon his view ! He beheld an affem- 
bly never before collected : a congrefs of fellbw-fuffer- 
ers, a band of fpiritual brothers, driven for the fame 
caufe from the bofom of their own country, and receiv- 
ed into the bofom of another. A congregation thus 
conftructed, thus circumftanced, demanded no rhetor- 
ical declamation, no clafiic elegance, no ftudied arti- 
fice ; nothing more was required than the langmage of 
the heart ; but that was a language the orator knew not 
how to fpeak. As if unconfcious of the fituation of 
the perfons to whom he addreffedhis difcourfe, he ir- 
ritated the wound into which he mould have infufed 
the balm of confolation : he chcfe for his fubjecl die 
difficulties (which he pronounced almofl infuperable) 
attending the priefthood in accomplifhing their falva- 
tion. Never, never was a fubject fo incongruous, fo 
ill-timed, fo inapplicable ! When I went out of the 
church I accofted an old ecclefiaftic, and aiked him* 
as we walked along, how he liked the difcourfe I He 
amwered fbniething to this efrecl: : The Pere Beaure- 
gard, initead of fweetenifig, has more embittered the 
ingredients cf that chalice which Providence has or- 
dained to be our potion/' The amiable Fenelon, I 
faid; would have preached in a very different manner. 
The eyes of the venerable man gliftened as I fpoke, and 
he replied, " Ah mon cher Ivlonneur i il n'y a plus de 
Fenelon/' 

I had an opportunity of hearing this celebrated Ex- 
Jeliiit three or four times : his manner was harffc, his 
colouring was not the happy refult cf lights and ihad- 
ows harnionioufly oppoied. His eloquence flared with 
the beams of indignation, but the foft afluafive light 
that flows from the eye of confolation was never feen. 
' The 



ELOQUENCE. 102 

The Pere Beauregard may not improperly be denomi- 
nated the Juvenal of the pulpit. His collective char- 
acter as a preacher reminds me of Dry den's defcription 
of Mars : 

Terror is thine, and wild amazement flung 
From out thy chariot withers e'en the ftronj. 

The elevated ground on which the genius of Gallic 
oratory ftands, was gained by a gradual afcent. At the 
commencement of the reign of Lewis the Fourteenth, 
the pulpit was degraded by the exhibitions of fcenic 
buffoonery. From the mob of wretched fermomzers? 
one eminently abfurd advanced, and attracted the at- 
tention of the public. The Father Honore, a Friar, 
diftinguifhed himfelf by a new mode, which was in 
preaching to the eye as well as to the ear. He fome- 
times held in his hand a death's head, which he exhib- 
ited in various attire with infinite dexterity, according 
to the character he intended to reprefent. Now the 
fkull difplayed the curled treffes of the gay man of 
fafhion, now the flowing hair of a magiftrate : the mil- 
itary plumes then waved over the brow of death : then 
the terrific gewgaw affumed a female drefs, which 
varied in conformity to the perfonage either of a prude, 
a coquette, a widow, or a nun. — See Hijloire de la Pre- 
dication, p. 4*78. 

To this buffoonery fucceeded a Friar of facetious 
memory, known by the appellation of Little Father 
Andre. His mode of preaching was lefs fcenical than 
that of his predeceffor, but equally improper : he was in 
the pulpit what Searron the jefter was in fociety. A vein 
of low comedy ran through the compofitions of Father 
Andre. His fmiles and allufions, though applicable, 
feldom failed to excite laughter. Tradition has preferv- 
ed fome fragments of his homilies. 

Ann of Auftria happening to come to church after 

the commencement of the fermon, inftead of obferving 

the eftablilhed practice, which was to recapitulate 

what had already been faid, with the addition of a per- 

I 2 fonal 



fonai compliment, the little Fere Andre iaid to the 
Queen, " Madame, foyez la bien venue nous n'en met- 
tkons pas plus g:\ic:.d pot au feu." 

Upon another occafion he ohferved, that there was 
a peculiar honour annexed to every profeffion, whether 
military, juridical, or monafnc, and that the beft pre- 
servative again ft vice was the keeping in view that pro- 
feffional honour : he then faid— u I was once re drain- 
ed from committing a great crime by the means* I am 
now recommending : ibme years ago (it was in the 
holy feafon of Lent) a young woman called upon me 
for the purpofe of inftructian, when I fuddenly perceiv- 
ed a vicious inclination riling in my mind, which I 
fupprefied with this reflection, If a young woman is not 
free from danger in the chamber of a Prieft, where can 
flie be fee u re ?" 

When thefe religious mountebanks evacuated the- 
fcene, it was occupied by Preachers who added elegance 
to thought, and dignity to expreffion. To this Parif- 
lan fchool of temple oratory I do not, however, wifh to 
confign the Englifh candidates The feveral fug- 
geftions and prefumed improvements which have been 
offered to the confideration of the reader are not frer 
quently exemplified in the French difcourfes : even that 
method of arrefting attention without fatiguing it, of in- 
terfiling the heart without diftreffing it, I mean the in- 
troduction of a well-adapted hiftoric incident, is feldom 
employed even in the panegyrics of the faints. 

The fermons, therefore, of foreign authors fhould be 
rather conftilted than ftudied ; they mould be perufed as 
auxiliaries rather than principals. If any exception 
mip-ht be admitted to this governing rule, the JBifhop of 
Meaux would claim that exception. 

The young candidate muil commune with his own 
"thoughts, dive into his own conceptions, and perhaps, in 
the inward fanctuary of his mind, he may difcover the 
renins of preaching, whofe veil, like that of Ifis, no hand 
has yet prefumed to remove. 

The fevere precepts, the aufterity of doctrine, the 
unremitted rigour, that prevails in the moral difcourfes 



ELOQUENCE. tOS 

of the French Preachers, carry with them fomething 
of a repuliive nature. Thofe moraliils furvey the Chris- 
tian inititution with a fplenetic eye ; a fo morons, mo* 
naftic melancholy broods over their religious inftruc- 
tions : they dwell on the terrific part of the- Chriftian 
doctrine, deepening thole clouds, which appear to the 
affectionate believer little more than relieving fhades to 
attempt the blaze of mercy. 

The caufe of this overcharged aufterity imputed to 
the French moraliits may be traced, perhaps, to their 
adhering, in their expofition of the Scriptures, to that 
forced fenfe impofed upon them by the antient convent- 
ual commentators. It may be alfo traced to that inex- 
orable law which forever bars the facred miniftry from 
marriage. Aliens in their native country, feparatifts in 
the circle of mingled fociety, their labours are never to 
be relieved by the charm of domeftic life ; their heart 
never to be awakened by the finer fenfibilities, their bof- 
om never to be agitated by the reciprocal motion of pa* 
rental hope and apprehenfion. 

A difcourfe delivered at Bath in 1738, during the 
King's illnefs, by the Reverend Jofeph Wilks, is an ex- 
ceptive inftance to that aufterity of doctrine which I 
have imputed to the Catholic moralift. This gentle- 
man, who is diftinguiffied by his abilities and learning, 
Las brought eminently forward in his difcourfe, the 
cheering amenities, the foothing clemencies, the en- 
dearing fecurities which are fcattered by the hand of 
Divine benevolence over the evangelic page. " In de- 
livering the exhortations of religion," fays this judicious 
and amiable moral i ft, " I am not to daili your reafona- 
blejoys, nor fpread a gloom over your early exiftence. 
Life, when employed in Jls proper ufes, abounds with 
ex-quifite delights ; and, far from leftenmg the por- 
tion of human happurefs, nothing contributes fo much 
be fedatenefs of religion to increafe it." 

But to return to the fu eject on the fe verity of Cath- 
olic doctrine : I have heard it afferted, that the Preach- 
er defcends from rue pulpit into the confefuonal with 
-i rndre I ion: this affertion I readily; 

admit i 



1.04 E S S A Y ON 

admit ; for nature muft have formed his bofom of ad- 
amant, who can behold without emotion a fellow-crea- 
ture kneeling at his feet, and in the moft humiliating 
manner acknowledging and fpecifying his errors, 
crimes, and frailties, with an unreferved fimplicity. 
Madame de Cornuel, a lady celebrated for her lively 
obfervations, was accuftorned to fay of her confeffor,. 
the Pere Bourdalou, " If furfait dan s la chaire, mais 
dans le confeffional il donne a bon marche." 

La Bruyere, who wrote during the reign of the beft 
French Preachers, acknowledges that there is fomething 
ftill wanting in their compofitions, and delivers his fen- 
timents in thefe words : " Until fome perfon fhall ap- 
pear, who with a bofom warm and enriched with the 
treafures of the Gofpel, fhall utter the language of fim- 
plicity and affection, the temple orators will be follow- 
ed. The Preacher I have ardently wifhed to fee, and 
whom I had almoft defpaired of beholding, has at 
length made his appearance among us : the courtiers 
have deferted the royal chapel to Men to the word 
of God announced with a permafive apoftolic energy." 

The perfon on whom La Bruyere has bellowed fb 
liberal an encomium is Father Seraphim, whofe homi- 
lies, publifhed in fix volumes, do not fupport the char- 
after given of him by the French Theophraftus ; they, 
however, contain feveral fplendid and impaflioned pages. 
Father Seraphim is reported to have had a voice flexi- 
ble to every tone, and which was, as occafion demand- 
ed vehement or gentle, melancholy or joyful, effufive 
or hefitating, tender or fevere. The mufical variety of 
utterance contributed, no doubt, to that effect which the 
compofition was unequal to produce. This induces 
me to mention the importance of elocution. As noth- 
ing can be efteemed trivial that adminifters to the fa^ 
ere 3 function of preaching, I beg leave to recommend 
to the young candidate a little pamphlet, entitled Hints 
to public Speakers, printed for Murray, Fleet Street, 
1797. They who wifh to go deeper into the fubject 
may confult an Effay on the Action proper for the Pul- 
pit, which is fubjoined to a Dialogue concerning the 

Art 



ELOQUENCE. 105 

Art of Preaching, called Theodoras, by David For* 
dyce. 

This dialogue alfo deferves the attention of the young 
Ecclefiaflic. Although the precepts are not relieved by 
exemplifications, it is written with fpirit, and con amorc. 
The author directed the full current of his mind to fa- 
cred oratory : he travelled with a view to enlarge his 
knowledge upon that art : after a fuccefsful tour through 
France, Italy, and other parts of Europe, " when he 
was almofl at home, and his friends flood ready with 
open arms and joyful heart to receive him, enrich- 
ed no doubt with frefh ftores of knowledge, he loft 
his life in its full prime by a ftorm on the coafl of Hol- 
land." 

The ciiilom of commencing a fermon with quoting 
the chapter and verfe of a text, has generally obtained ; 
but where the text is long, and has fomething adapted 
to roufe the imagination, it appears to me that the omif- 
fion of the ufual form would have a better effect. Sup- 
pofe the Preacher were to take for his text the words 
of St. Paul relative to the refurrection, containing five 
verfes ; how powerfully would he buril upon the at- 
tention of his audience, if, without the reference to the 
chapter and verfe, he were to pronounce with a flrong 
imprefllve voice thefe auguft words, " Behold, I fhow 
you a my fiery \*> Sec. 

This abrupt and fpirited manner would fummon the 
attention of the audience, who, thus unprepared by a 
formal introduction, would receive the full impulfe of 
the text. 

To give another inftance : I will imagine a Preacher 
encircled with a congregation for the purpofe of hear- 
ing a charity -fermon. I will imagine, that, inflead of 
a tedious citation of the chapter and verfe, he fhould 
command attention with thefe words : " Come, ye 
bleiTed of my Father," &c. pronouncing by heart, in afol- 
emn exprefiive tone, the feven verfes. Would not this 
be a more decifive method of awakening and captivat- 
ing expectation ? would it not be founding the key-note 

which 



106 E S S A Y O N 

which is to predominate through the whole of the dii- 
courfe ? 

Other texts of a fimilar tendency will offer themfelves 
to the felection of the difcerning Preacher. 

I muft alfo profefs myfeif a warm advocate for the 
practice of the pious and learned Dr. Ifaac Watts, who, 
at the clofe of any weighty fentence, was accuftomed to 
fufpend his voice, that, by the intervention of an awful 
paufe, the fentiment might fink deep into the heart. 

Dr. Watts was the friend of that enchanting religion - 
ift, that lovely enthufiaft, Elizabeth Rowe ; whofe life 
may be faid to be an eloquent fermon. Her piety had 
nothing repulfive ; it glowed with philanthropy, it al- 
lured to imitation, it was enlivened by the fplendour of 
hope and the gaiety of an immaculate confcience. 

Mr. Gilpin obferves, in the preface to his Sermons, 
" Though a fliort opening of a text may often be nec- 
efTary, there feems no occafion for a long preface. 
Whatever appertains immediately to the difcourfe had r 
perhaps, be better introduced into the body of it." 

To this juft obfervation offo experienced a Preach- 
er, I might add, that the fplitting the fubject into dif- 
ferent members, and informing the audience how each 
divifion is to be treated, is an injudicious and defective 
method. This babbling anticipation deftroys expect- 
ancy, that active principle of the human mind. How of- 
ten have I been difgufted with a tedious bill of fare f to 
a meagre entertainment ! I cannot clofe this obferva- 
tion better than with the following lines from Mr. Hav« 
ley: 

As the good Parfon's quiet fermon grows : 
Firft calmly fettles on fome moral text, 
Then creeps from one divifion to the next. 

Refpecting the length of time that fhould be devoted 
to a fermon, no invariable regulation can be adopted ; 
as fome fubject s require more expanfion than others. 
In that entertaining collection of Bryden's profe works, 

enriched 



ELOQUENCE. 107 

enriched with notes by Mr. Malone, I meet with the 
following information : 

" An hour, meafured by an hour-glafs, fixed at the fide 
of the pulpit, was the ufual length of a fermon at this 
time." Anno 1655. 

When attention is led captive, the road appears fhort : 
concifenefs is apt to degenerate into improper brevity. 
The fermons of Dr. Ogden, and of Dr. Gregory, Chap- 
lain to the celebrated Bifhop of LandafF, are fubjecl: to this 
flattering objection. 

A fecret charm is fometimes diffufed over a compofi- 
tion, for ' which our language has no appellation,* but 
which by the French is denominated unftion. This fe- 
cret charm is of too aerial a nature to be bound by the 
chains of a definition. It is not that eiegant urbanity 
which pervades the delightful letters of Sevigne : it is 
not that infmuating grace which enamels the pares of 
Addifon ; it is not that amenity, which, like a filver 
ftream, glides through the difcourfes of Atterbury ; but 
it is rather that mild magic, that gentle fafcination, that 
endearing Simplicity, which characterizes the writings 
of the Evangelifts : he who ihall perufe them with en- 
amoured perfeverance , will acquire fome portion of that 
affectionate eloquence for which there are no precepts of 
compofition. 

It is the attention of the country Clergyman which I 
wiih particularly to excite in the following page. The 
fimpie manners of the lower orders of life at a remote 
diftance from the metropolis, give the rural PafLor a lin- 
gular advantage. There Religion's Orpheus may ftrike 
ills facred lyre with more effect : nor is this mytholog- 
ical allufion foreign to the fubject ; for it was not the 
groves of the Academy, the poliihed (tones of the Por- 
tico, nor the managed horfes of Greece, which liftened 
to the harp of Orpheus, but the wild trees of unfre- 
•uted woods, the rocks of unexplored defer ts, and 
the tigers of the foreft. This obvious allegory, with- 
out its primitive contraction, may be eafily adapted 
to the rural Paftor and his uncultivated audience. 
The feafons as they roll, the diverfified occupations 

of 



108 ESSAY ON 

of husbandry, with the varying fcenes of nature, will 
fupply the Preacher with many pious obfervations, 
perfuafive arguments, and quickening ailuflons. The 
kind treatment of animals, which is a ramification of 
charity, may be, with great propriety, inculcated in 
the country, where they are expofed to the neglect 
or harlh ufage of a thoughtlefs, and fometimes un- 
feeling peafantry. Let the Preacher goad the bofom 
to a fenfe of compaffion for the mute creation, " the 
inferior family of Heaven." Let him inform his 
ruftic audience how the wild Arab treats his horfe with 
the mildeft indulgence, even w T ith a kind of fraternal 
fympathy : let him dwell upon feme of the fa<5ts that 
hiflory has commemorated : let him relate the anec- 
dote of the Arab inferted by St. Pierre in The Studies 
of Nature. 

This work of St. Pierre, admirably well tranflated by 
Dr. Hunter, HiguM find admhlion into the ftudy of the 
young Ecclefiaftic : it is adorned with all the learning 
of the prefent day. He difplays, at times, the raptur- 
ous eloquence of Rouffeau, without the redundancy : 
he is the zealous advocate for the caufe of Religion, and 
fpeaks of her, not in the gaudy language of a panegyr- 
ift, but with the accents and interefting expreflions of 
an enamoured admirer. 

In a' fermon on the kind treatment of animals, by 
the Rev. Percival Stockdale, I meet with the following 
paffage, which would do honour to the defcriptive pow- 
ers of Pliny the naturalirr. : 

Ci One ftrong inducement to treat animals well and 
kindly, is the returns they make us for that treatment. 
When we fhow them that mildnefs, that care, that ten- 
dernefs they deferve for their own lakes, and from a 
proper reverence of that Being by whom they were 
created, how amiably do they exhibit their natures, I 
had almoft laid their virtues ! The behaviour of the 
dog alone, the moft grateful, the moft affectionate and 
conilant friend— he will not defert his matter in the 
worfc of emergencies, in the rheaneft and moft morti- 
fying circumftances. Though he is pleafed with fplen- 

dcur. 



ELOQUENCE. 109 

clonr, he will follow his benefactor from a palace to a 
dungeon. Cold and famine will not cool his attention. 
His°attitudes, his careffes, and his eye, you may infal- 
libly interpret into the following language : « Though 

* you are forfaken by the world, you fliall never be for- 

* faken by me : to tear you from me would be tearing 
' me from myfelf. By having my poor fociety, you 
« will at lead not be in a total folitude. I will partici- 

* pate all your woes, and, if I furvive you, I will die 
4 upon your grave.' — This picture is not drawn by ro- 
mantic imagination ; all its eTential ftrokes are well- 
known truths of natural hiftory." 

It would not be unworthy of the rural Paflor to en- 
deavour to eradicate the erroneous opinions and the 
falfe eflimates that favour the deitruclion of the aerial 
race. Mr. Berwick, in his Hiftory of Birds, aiferts 
" that rooks are often accufed of feeding on the corn 
juft after it has been fown, and various contrivances 
have been made both to kill and frighten them away : 
but in our estimation, the advantages derived from the 
deflruction which they make among grubs, earth- 
worms, and noxious infects of various kinds, will great- 
ly overpay the injury done to the future harveft." 

Time and obfervatioti will probably lead to more be- 
nign difcoveries, and expand the fcience of humanity. 
Let the ruftic auditor be impreifed with the idea, that 
every flight attention paid to the minuteft* i>dng, is a 
homage paid to virtue, as it has a refen 2 to human- 
ity : fo every particle of diamond duft is valuable, as 
being of the fame nature as the large brilliant, 

I cannot difmifs the prefent fubjecl, without expreff- 
ing a wifh that the annual depredations of birds' nefts 
might be fuppre:Ted ; this invafion upon the harmony 
of the groves, unproductive of any good to the youth- 
ful plunderer, fhould certainly be refitted. Here again 
the rural Pallor may raiie the voice of benevolence 
againil an inhuman practice. It frequently excites 
my admiration, that Thomfon, cur great rural poet 
whofe bofom echoed to every querulous tone in nature 
did not more prolixly dwell on a theme that feemed to 
K demand 



110 ESSAY ON 

demand his moil 'indignant zeal : he tranfiently no- 
tices the abufe for the fake of introducing Virgil's cele- 
brated lines on a plundered neft. 

However cuftom may have fanctioned this abufe, to 
the reflecting mind, to the lover of nature, it mud ap- 
pear an act of wanton cruelty. When the Prophet 
Ifaiah introduces the king of Affyria exulting in his 
deeds of oppreilion, he makes him delineate his tyran- 
ny under the imagery of a neA: -plunderer : "My hand 
Iiath found asa neft the riches of the people/* Chap. 
x* verfe 14, 

Melmoth obferves, that children, by being unre- 
{fo-ained in fports of this kind, may acquire by habit 
\vhat they never would have learned from nature, and 
grow up into a cofirmed inattention to every kind of 
fuffering but their own. Accordingly, the fupreme 
court of judicature at Athens thought an inftance of 
this fort not below its cognizance, and punifhed a boy 
for putting out the eyes of a poor bird, that had unhap- 
pily fallen into his hands. 

The evangelic Monitor mould be diligently obferv- 
ant of the living manners, in order to fubdue the 
fpringing folly, and riling vice, while they flutter on 
feeble pinions. I was prefent two years ago at a fer- 
inon, into which the Preacher introduced a circum- 
ilance which had at that time excited much converfa- 
tion : the fubject of the difcourfe was Death, at the 
clofe of which he joined the public complaint againR 
thofe wretches whofe practice was (for a fordid inter- 
eft.) to violate the repofe of the dead ; who, like the 
wolves in winter, tear from the graves the mangled 
corfes. I recollect the difcourfe concluded with words 
to this effect : 

" Let the remains of the murderer or the notorious 
offender be configned to the anatomift ; but, in the 
name of God and of nature, let the tombs of the inno- 
cent be Mill refpected. When refignation has fome- 
what affuaged and bound up the wound of the furvivor 
for fome dear relative, thefe monfters rend the bands 

afunder. 



ELOQUENCE. Ill 

aftmder, and inflict a new agony en the gaping 
•wound." 

A vice of a new conilruction, or at lead affirming a 
new and formidable appearance, has been vigorously 
denounced, in a fetmon delivered at Bath by Dr. J. 
Gardiner. The panage merits attention, and is worth 
tranferibing : 

" What makes me tremble for the fate of my coun- 
try is, to hear of a crime that has found its way in all 
parts of the kingdom, and among all ranks of fociety, 
the very idea of which almoft freezes one with horror, 
and which one harciy knows how to name in a civiliz- 
ed aifembly — a crime, accompanied with this aggrava- 
tion, that, in being perpetrated to defraud the revenue, 
it deprives the ftate of thofe fupplies which are necef- 
fary in our emergency for the prefer vat Ion of every 
thing we hold dear. Have the pcriens, who, under the 
mo ft fcandalous fcbterfuges and nugatory pretences, 
daily commit this crime, ever confidered what perjury 
is ? It is by making ufe of deceit, and to impofe on 
man, openly to mock and bid defiance to the great 
Searcher of hearts. He who takes an oath, conclud- 
ing, * So help me God !' may be fuppofed to exprefs 
himfelf in fuch language as this : O God ! I acknowl- 
edge that -thou doll exht, that then art mailer of my 
life, and of my immortal foul ; I confent that thou 
ihouldlt deprive me of this life, and plunge this foul 
into everlalVmg mifery, if I fpeak contrary to my 
knowledge." — 1798. Rivingtons. 

The paffions of men (it has been obferved) have ufu- 
ally been the channel through which the underitanding 
is diiturbed : but in France the underftanding has- 
been the mftrument of difturbing the paffions. Polite 
literature proftitueed its powers to the purpofes of re- 
bellion. Though not confpiring to the fame effect^ 
libertmifm has fet her feal to the lighter productions 
of this country, and confequently they become fuitable 
topics for the animadverfion of the pulpit. The foU 
ing obfervation, appofite to the point under confid- 
-aon, is tranferibed from a very ingenious pamphlet, 

entitled^ 



112 ESSAY ON 

entitled, " The Story of the Moor of Venice," printed 
for Cadell, 1795 : " Biography, converted as it has late- 
ly been in Great Britain, into memoirs and private an- 
ecdotes, becomes the fchool of vice and treachery • the 
infamous vehicle in which the ftrumpet proclaims her 
debaucheries, and the villain avows his crimes. Did 
they not find readers, fuch- difgufting publications 
would fcarcely deferve the honour of being cenfured. 
But we would willingly fupprefs the paffion by which 
they are encouraged : that malicious prying curiofity 
into fecrets of family hifcory, where diilipation and 
idlenefs leek for apologies in divulging the weaknefs 
and folly of others. A iuitable degree of public virtue 
and relentmcnt would have flint theie babblers up for 
ever in the vaults of (llenee, ' ? 

Some perfons ld wliofe judgment I pay the greater}. 
defference, have expreffed their furpriie, that I did not, 
in a former ed :his EiTay, point out the crime of 

duelling as. a fubjecl of reprobation : to theie perfens, 
by whole notice I am honoured, I beg leave to obferve, 
that an uncommon fkill is requifite in arraigning this 
vice : it is the offspring of exquifrte fenfibility and de- 
luded honour ; it cleaves to the heart by a multitude 
of delicate irriperceptible fibres : it takes root in the deep 
receiles of the foul : it grows by the feat of virtue, and 
fends its innovating tendrils round her throne, as the 
woodbine embraces the elm. How tremblingly alive, 
hew corredly difciplined, mud: be the hand which at- 
tempts fo intricate a performance ! I am almoil prompt- 
ed to cry out with the poet : 






Rain hand forbear, 



Left with rude touch the work you tear, 
And wound fome kindred virtue there.'' 

But when this vice has carried dcfolation into the 
bofom of fome family, when the offending furvivor is , 
fmmoned to the bar, this infamous vice may then be 
configned to the obloquv it deferves. In the trial of 
Mr. Barbot for the death of Mr. Mills, in the ifland of 

St, 



ELOQUENCE. «* 

St. -Chriftopher, 1753, Mr. Home, the counfel for the 
profecution, delivered his fentiments in the following 
manner, which may ferve as a model for the preacher, 
ihould he (till be inclined to arraign this crime from 
the pulpit : 

" How is the name of honour proftituted ! Can hon- 
our be the favage refolution, the brutal fiercenefs of a 
revengeful fpirit ? True honour is manifefted in a Hea- 
dy, uniform tram of actions, attended by jufiice, and 
directed by prudence. Is this the conduct of the du- 
elling ? will juftice fupport him in robbing the com- 
munity of an able and ufeful member ? and in depriv- 
ing the poor of a benefactor ? will it fuppcrt him in 
preparing affliction for the widow's heart r in filling 
the orphan's eyes with tears ? Will juftice acquit him 
for enlarging the puniihment beyond the oifence ? will 
it premit him, for, perhaps, a ram word that may ad- 
mit of an apology, an unadvifed action that may be re- 
trieved, or an injury that maybe compenfated, to cut 
off a man before his days be half numbered, and for a 
temporary fault inflict an endlefs punifhment ? On the 
other hand, will prudence bear him out in risking an 
infamous death if he fucceeds in the duel ? but if he 
falls, will it plead his pardon at a more awful tribunal, 
for ruming into the.prefence of an offended God ? 

" Senfelefs as this notion of honour is, it unhappily 
has its advocates among us : but for the prevalence of 
fuch a notion, how could the amiable perfon, whofe 
death has made the folemn bufmefs of this day, he loft 
to his country, his family, and his friends ? Would to 
God that I was amafter of words, and it could be in- 
dulged to the tender nefs of a friend to pay a tribute to 
his memory ! I might then endeavour to fet him full 
'before you in the variety of his excellence ; but as this 
would be venturing too far, Lean only lament that 
fuch virtue had not a longer date : that this good man 
was cut off in the ftrength of his age, ere half his glafs 
was run : when his heart was projecting and executing 1 
'icheaaes to relieve diftrefs, an4 bv the "moll furprifmg 
K 2 * .acts 



114. ESSAY ON 

acts of beneficence, vindicating the bounty of Provi* 
dence for heaping wealth upon him. 

" Duelling feems to be an unnatural graft upon gen* 
nine courage, and the growth of a barbarous age. The 
polite nations of Greece and Rome knew nothing of 
it : they referved their bravery for the enemies of their 
country, and then were prodigal of their blood. Thefe 
brave people fet Honour up as a guardian genius of the 
public, to humanize their paffions, to preferve their 
truth unblemifhed, and to teach them to value life on- 
ly as ufeful to their country. The modern heroes drefs 
it up like one of the daemons of fuperflition befmeared 
with blood, and delighting in human facrifice. " 

The eulogium the gentleman who figns himfelf 
Clericus is pleafed to give this efiay, induced me to 
confider the fubject with renewed meditation. His 
arguments in favour of the prefent mode of preaching 
have not ITiaken my opinion. Our Preachers have a 
great way t® go before they reach the confines of 
Methodifm : he wifhes that the actual character of 
public exhortation fhould remain fixed and unalterable. 
Is not this wifhing it to remain fixed as in a froft ? 

I have alfo to make my acknowledgements to Mifs 
Seward, for the flattering notice with which Die has 
honoured this Effay : her objections to pulpit oratory, 
attired in the fplendour of diction and attractive im- 
agery, difplay tie powers of that art fhe fo fparingly 
indulges to the preacher. During the , intervening pe- 
riod between the lafl and the prefent edition, fhe has 
more illuftrioufly diftinguifhed this EfTay by infer ting 
two letters addrefled to the author of thefe pages in 
the Gentleman's Magazine for the months of February 
and March. To this celebrated Lady I beg leave to 
apply a line of the Cardinal Polignac's, in his Anti- 
Lucretius. 

Eloquio vi(5bi re vincimus ipfa. 

Among the few remaining fuggeftions I have to of- 
fer to the clerical candidate, I have to recommend to 
his obfervance a caution not to direct his cenfures a- 

gainft 



ELOQJJENCE. 115 

gainft any one particular perfon of his audience. Ho- 
ly animadverfion carries no quiver of poifoned arn ws 
for the bofom of an individual. 

The fevere and animated ftrictui«es 
de Poule pronounced at Verfailles, wei ; to 

exception, becaule they comprehended the whole au- 
dience. This picture of the French < long 
before the revolution, is well drawn ; a se the 
portrait of a celebrated perfonage who no longer exifts, 
it becomes more mterefting. 

"Is not the gayeft appiehenfion excited at the name 
of the court ? Does it not prefent itfeif to the mind 
as the temple of voluptuoulnefs ? This image, how- 
ever, refembles more "he world than the court. He 
who enters the precincts of this place, comes not in 
purfuit of pleafure ; comes not to exhibit his own 
greatneis : the fun-beams of royalty overwhelm every 
other fplendour. The fovereign demands and receives 
exclusively, every obei&hce, every homage : the femi- 
deities of the world are here blended with that fervile 
crowd who in every other place accumulate incenfe on 
their altars. The great depofe at the portal of this 
habitation their claims to rank and titles : they refign 
their honours, in order to refume them when they de- 
part. Ambition and ittteTeft ufher in the vifitors of 
this mannon, and while they are excited by the gaudy 
vifions of fuccefs, they are constrained by the prefence 
of the fevere' gn, and by the watchful eye of concur- 
ring expectants. Thus it is, that out of the bofom of 
the fame nation arifes another nation different in man- 
ners and in modes of expreffion, while in purfuit 
of their wifhes they are guided by an artful duplicity, 
whofe purport is to deceive. The courtiers feem occu- 
pied with trifles, and configned to carelefs diffipation, 
while they are only influenced by the hopes of aggrand- 
izement, only felicitous to make their defects appear 
accomplishments, and duly careful to it read over their 
vices the mo 1 ! attractive colouring. Mark how they en- 
deavour to fupply the language of truth and the ienti- 
ments offriendihip with the accents pf artifice* and the 

careffes 



m ESSAY ON 

carefTes of nmulation. Behold how they irradiate the 
countenance of Difappointment with fmiles, and 
fmooth the rude afpect of Hatred with the polifh of 
affability. Obferve how they wear the deportment of 
humility and affection, before thofe perfons whofe char- 
acters they fecretly ridicule and degrade. A fpectator 
would be naturally led to think, from the appearance 
of fuch prevenient attentions, from fuch an intercourfe 
of mutual profeflions, that this fplendid concourfe of 
the great formed one harmonious family, whofe inter- 
eft flowed in one channel. But remove the veil of 
fimulation, and you will behold a throng of jealous and 
deep-defigning rivals, who are intent on each other's 
deftrudion ; whofe acts of treachery and perfidioufnefs 
would excite our abhorrence, did they not poflefs the 
art of fafcinating our judgment and of conciliating our 
indulgence with our disapprobation." 

This auflere and unqualified reprefentation of the 
manners of the great, excited difcontent, and called 
forth murmurs and complaints ; but as no individual 
of the courtly herd was flngled out for facrifice, thofe 
murmurs and complaints died away. 

f St. Chryfoftom, who fometimes indulged a fatirical 
propenfity, could not fail of giving offence to the young 
women who had taken the vow of celibacy, when he 
publicly directed his ftrictures to them in the great 
church of Antioch, where they only formed a part of 
the audience. The pafTage is curious, as it minutely 
defcribes the drefs of thofe primitive nuns, in whofe 
hreaft (according to the gTeat Orator) the defire of 
pleafmg ftill lingered : 

"If St. Paul prohibits the luxuriant indulgence of 
drefs in the married women who move in the higher 
circles of life, would he not have extended his prohi- 
bition to thofe who are bound by the reftrictive vow of 
celibacy ? You tell me that none of your order appear 
in public glittering with brilliants, or invefted with 
the decorations of art : very true ; but the fimple, 
:brown, and fomewhat coarfe garment which you wear, 
h arranged .with all the delicacy of grace and all the 

elegance 



ELOQUENCE: 117 

elegance of defign. Your dark fandals affume fo ele- 
gant a form, that they excel the paintings of the mod 
ikilful artiit. : the natural beauty of your countenance 
I am ready to allow is not heightened by the brumes of 
ar:, but every other attention is devoted to its embel- 
lishment. Can I withhold from cbferving that white 
veil that floats over your hair 5 to which is fuperadded a 
rofe of black ribands, which defignedly difplays the 
whitenefs of the veil and the colour of your complex- 
ion ? Shall I not reprobate thofe quick glances which 
are perpetually darting from fide to fide ? mall I not 
reprobate your ftudied attitudes and premeditated gef- 
tures ? mall I not mention that loofe mantle, with 
which this moment you conceal your form, and which 
the next moment you throw back with a graceful neg- 
ligence ? mall I not mention thofe fmooth white gloves, 
which being drawn on with fuch ikilful folicitude, ex- 
hibit the appearance of naked arms ? To conclude, let 
me inform you that from this detailed attention to your 
humble apparel, remits a more feductlve attraction than 
from :the difplay of. a magnificent attire. "- — See Les Ex 
traits de St. Chryfojlom bar VAbbi Auger x tome t[uatrieme 9 
1S3. 

But to proceed in the path which leads to the imme- 
diate obje& of this Elfay ; there is a theme which 
would call for the exertions of the Chriftian Orator, 
were it not become an object of parliamentary difcuf- 
fi on — -Indian Slavery ! who ftill panes for the day of 
her emancipation, and who boails of having attracted 
to her caufe the mod generous, unwearied, and elo- 
quent advocate, who makes his annual appeal to his 
country, and calls upon Compaction to pay her long 
arrear. 

I mould wifh the rural Pallor would often imprefs 
on his audience the duty of reading the Bible? partic- 
larly the New Te lament. He might occafionally a- 
waken in them a define of perufmg the Holy Scripture, 
by commenting upon the parables, by elucidating fome 
local parages, and pointing out the lefs obvious and 
retired beauties. If the cottager mould be led to ac- 
quire 



IIS ESSAY ON 

quire the habit of perufmg the New Teftamentv it 
would diffufe an inexpreffive charm round his humble 
-exiftence : for, as Cudworth obferves, " Scripture faith 
is not a mere believing of hiftorical things, but a cer- 
tain higher and deviner power in the foul peculiarly 
eorrefpondent with the Deity." 

Dryden, in his Religio Laid, difapproves of the Bi- 
ble being put into the hands of the laity : he expreffes 
his fentiment in a coarfe,. but orginal and well-adapt- 
ed fimile : 

" The crowds unlearn 'd, with rude devotion warm. 

About thefacred viads buzz and fwarm : 

The fly-blown text creates a crawling brood, 

And turns to maggots what was meant for food." 

How difierent is the opinion of the great poet in an 
enlightened period, from that of a poor ihepherd in 
the reign of Henry the Eighth! When an afi had 
Rafted, prohibiting the ufe of the Bible in Englifh,^ this 
Ihepherd manifeiled the deep concern the prohibition 
had -imprefled on his mmd by the following remark, 
which he wrote in afpare leaf of an Englifh abridge- 
ment of Polydore Virgil's book of the Invention of 
-Arts : — When I l.epe Mr. Letymer's fiype, 1 bout thys 
dtoke, <when the Ttfiament <was obbergatyd, that Jheperdys 
■might not rede hit : I pray God amende that blyndnefs. — 
Writ by Robert Wyllyams heppyng Jhepe upon Seynbury 
Hdl 1547.— See the Hiftory of Biblical Tranfiations 
by Lewis, p. 150. 

There is fomething fmgularly pleafmg and aiFe&ing 
in the ftyle and language of the paffage juit adduced : 
while the Ihepherd on Sunbury Hill was entering his 
humble proteft agasinft the prohibiting act, he little im- 
agined he was conveying his name to the notice of pos- 
terity. 

With regard to the points of religious controverfy, 
they fhould be cautioufly admitted into public dif- 
courfes : afperity is apt to infmuate her ferpentine 
form into the fubjecl:, and ftain the purity of evangelic 

forbearance- 



ELOQUENCE. 119 

forbearance. Controverfy, like a rapid wheel, fefcs it- 
felf on fire in its courfe, and by that means does not 
attain the object o£ its purfuit. Let the contro- 
verting exert his abilities in his cabinet and not in the 
pulpit. The controverfial Preacher appears, in feme 
degree, as the violator of the laws of religious freedom. 
Chriftianity, of whatever denomination, is like the fa- 
cred veffel failing to Delphi, which was at all times un- 
moleiled. 

But againft the progrefs of modem fcepticifm occa- 
fional exertion may be made with falutary effect. A- 
gainft that German monfter Infidelity, which (to ufe 
the words that Gildas applied to the Arian herefy) like 
a fierce ferpent, is continually vomiting forth her tranf- 
marine pcifon upon us ! againft that growing monfter 
let our moll ftrenuous exertions be directed ; and, to 
adapt a once celebrated exprefllon to a better purpofe, 
let us not be germanifed to ftone. 

Subjects of animadverfion will fometimes arife from 
peculiar modes and cuftoms : St. Auftin mentions, in 
the fourth book of his Chriftian Doctrine, the fuccefs 
of the difcourfe which he directed againft the annual 
and popular games which were held in Cefaria, and 
which never terminated but in the death of fome of the 
combatants. " I adopted," fays St. Auftin, " the mod 
vehement expreffions, I employed the whole collected 
powers of my mind, to (tern the deftructive torrent : 
I had to oppofe the authority of a leng-eftablif tied cuf- 
tom, and to combat the prejudices of an impaflioned 
people. I had not long proceeded in my difcourfe, be- 
fore I heard an imperfect found of approbation, like a 
faint gale ruftiing through the leaves : as I continued 
to fpeak, the imperfect found became more afcertained, 
till my voice was loft in a general acclamation. This 
thunder of applaufe conveyed no gratification to the 
Preacher : it declared to me that the audience was rather 
pleafed than convinced. But at length the loud voice 
of approbation diminiihed, and progreffively laded a- 
way into a profound ftillnefs. At that moment I urg- 
ed my purfuit with a greater ardour of ientiment, and 

a 



120 ESSAY ON 

a new energy of foul, when I foon beheld remorfe dit- 
fufed over every countenance* emotion fat on every 
brow, and tears began to flow. Then, then my throb- 
bing heart afllired me that I had obtained the victory. 
Eight years are now elapfed, and I have the cheering 
confidence to aifert, that none of my auditors have ever 
fince afiifted at the annual games, either as actors or 
fpectators." 

Subjects of animadversion will fometimes prefent 
tnemlelves from die Clergyman's peculiar place ofrefi- 
dence. They who dwell in the vicinity of the fea* 
coaft, will have oecafion to exert their influence to fup- 
prefs that inhuman treatment which the unfortunate 
perfons who are fhip wrecked not unfrequently receive 
from the hands of their own countrymen. It would 
be too painful to relate the feveral depredatory and 
atrocious acts that have been committed during the 
prefent war ; the intelligence of which has come to my 
•knowledge from indisputable authority. The recur- 
rence of thefe inhuman practices would almoft prompt 
one to think, that the nation whofe heart glows with 
benevolence is palfied at the extremities. 

Wherever the pallor is ftatiohed, it becomes his du- 
ty to mark what panes around him ; to obferve the va- 
rying and Protean fhape that vice aflumes : he mull 
bear in his recccllection that he is the perfon to whom 
thefe words may be applied ; " let him declare what he 
feeth." Ifaiah, chap. xxi. ver. 6. 

Thefe obfervations, that an honeft zeal has induced 
me to offer to the attention of the juvenile Ecclefiaftics, 
will, I trufl:, be of feme utility to them in the adminif- 
tration of their profeflional duty. If they woo Reli- 
gion for Religion's fake, and Hand at. her altar enam- 
oured of the form of Truth much may be done by their 
patriotic exertions, for fuch they may be ttenomina 
with the drifted propriety. The times a 
ful, and demand the unwearied vigilance of the Priefl- 
hood. " Let him declare what he feeth ;" let the voice 
of the monitor be heard ; let it enforce this truth fo 
little attended to, that the prevailing luke-warrn attac h- 

ment 



ELOQUENCE. 121 

tnent to virtue is little better than habitual vice : « Let 
him declare what he feeth." If the torrent of modern" 
diffipation ftill urges on its impetuous courfe, bearing 
away with its rapidity all reccolle&ion, all economy 
(the treafury of charity) all good refolutions, health, 
and improving leifure ; if the languid lamp of devotion 
fhould be totally extinguilhed, may we not expect fome 
domeftic calamity, fome Englifh misfortune ? It is, per- 
haps, in the power of the Clergy to avert the impend- 
ing deftruction. Let the young Ecclefiaftic awfully 
behold the fublime talk that is affigned him ; let him 
look up with rapturous hope of great reward. The 
retrofpective view on his paft endeavours will admin- 
ifter to him (on fome future day), that pure, ferene de- 
light, which the world with all its treafury of happi- 
nefc, has not to bellow. He will feel (at the clofe of 
life) a glowing confidence, that as our nature at the af- 
cenfion was triumphantly tranllated into heaven, he 
will afcend the fame glorious height, and partake of the 
triumph of the great preacher, Jefus f who has prorri- 
ifed they Ihall be clothed with a ftar-like brilliancy r 
who- fhall have illumined others in their road to eter- 
nity. 

I beg leave, before I conclude this Effay, to advert to 
the fmall encouragement that is given to facred elo- 
quence. The many charitable inftitutions in this 
town/whofe turrets pierce the Ikies, and, as Mr. Burke 
obferves, " like fo many electrical conductors avert the 
wrath of heaven, do honour to general benevolence.'' 
Thefe charitable inftitutions, however, hold out no al- 
lurements to clerical talents. The trifling ftipend offer- 
ed to the morning or evening Preacher is not fufficient- 
ly attractive to a young man of genius to make him 
forego other literary purmits, to devote himfelf entirely 
to this hallowed art, without which excellence is net 
to be obtained, and, like the plighted virgin, leave be- 
hind all other endearing connexions to adhere to the 
object of her choice. The governors of the charitable 
inftitutions may fay they offer to the Preacher as much 
as they can deduct from their other various demands ; 
L to 



122 ' ESSAY ON 

to this fuppofed affertion of the governors, if I am net 
competent to reply, I may be allowed to obferve, that 
if young men of diftinguifhed abilities were incited by 
a more liberal remuneration; the audience would be 
more numerous, more fplendid, and the collection more 
productive. We have all heard of the furprifing and 
repeated collections made in an neighbouring ifland by 
the means of facred eloquence. Genius 'flu-inks 
(like the fenfitive plant) uninvited by patronage, unex- 
cited, unrewarded. 

" Nor trufb its bloflbms to the churlifh Ikies." 

As the embofomed feed fprings not from the earth 
unlefs warm funs and genial mowers call it forth, fo 
the parturient mind yields not the expected produce 
unlefs equal juftice 

" Scatters with a free, though frugal hand, 
Light golden fhow'rs of plenty o'er the land." 

Encouragement is the teft of genius ; it ads upon 
us as a provocation operates upon an irritable mind. 
Genius is foftered at the bar, and there wefeeittri-' 
iimphant. In v mufical competition we behold the re- 
verie : although the light golden Jho<zvers are not wanting 
to the genial climate of the ftage, none of our mufical 
dramas difcover any original merit : the barren, unin- 
ventive compiler only does the honours of foreign com- 
pofers : I am therefore compelled to think, that vocal 
and inftrumental compofition are repugnant to Eng- 
lifh genius. But of the more important and more ex- 
alted art, whofe caufe I am now pleading, I entertain a 
very different fentiment. From many indications that 
appear on the furface, I indulge the pleafmg idea, that 
the quarry contains an invaluable treafure. The new- 
Royal Inftitution proclaims the liberality of modern 
patronage : why might not a fund be eftablifhed for 
the purpofe of awakening an emulative difpofition in 
the rifmg race of Preachers, and of calling forth dor- 
mant and inactive capacities i Several peribns of the 

moft 



ELOQUENCE. 123 

moil enlightened difcernment, with whom I have con- 
verfed upon this fubjedt, concur with me in thinking, 
that an endowment of the nature I am fuggefting would 
be produ&ive of the moft falutary and early effe&s : 
Secred Eloquence would aflume the honours to which 
fhe would then be entitled, and take the lead ui the 
proceflion of talents. 

May the lft 9 1781. 



I 



